Meeting documents

To receive an update report from the Acting Police and Crime Commissioner.

Members considered a report by the Acting Police and Crime Commissioner which updated them on the progress on the 2016 manifesto commitment by the Police and Crime Commissioner to create a Service Improvement Panel to examine complaints about the Dorset Police 101 non-emergency service.  The inaugural meeting of the Panel took place on 3 October 2016 and consisted of 2 members of the Police and Crime Panel, 3 members of the public and 3 representatives from the Community and Voluntary Sector.

The Acting PCC advised members that in terms of overall performance 72.1% of calls were answered within the given timescales and that 25% of calls to 101 were not relevant to police responsibility. It was widely recognised that people had often had difficulty understanding whether to call 101 or 999 and too many inappropriate calls were being received by the service.  With this in mind the Acting PCC advised that an officer from the communications team would attend the next meeting of the 101 Service Improvement Panel to see what could be done. It was also noted that a new tranche of call handlers were now in post and another tranche were currently in training.  There was a constant turnover of staff as it was on a shift basis and people tended to move on.

One member felt that the time taken to answer the original call was not the issue, it was the time taken to speak with someone to deal with the matter that took the time. The Acting PCC explained the method used to assess the priority of the calls which was a combination of the National Decision Making model and the THRIVE (Threat, Harm, Risk, Investigation, Vulnerability and Engagement) triage process.

One of the members of the 101 Service Improvement Panel was still unsure if the service was overloaded or under provided for.  People were encouraged to contact the Police by telephone these days and she felt this should only be a few minutes, not the length of time they were currently taking.

Following a question from a member about what was being done by the PCC to reduce the 25% calls that shouldn’t be made the Acting PCC recognised that members of the public needed more information.  During the summer months events were held to let people know when people should and should not be calling.  There was also more communication work ongoing.  The Acting PCC highlighted that this was a national problem and was not just happening in Dorset, and that the Home Office were aware of this problem.

In response to a question about what action the PCC would be taking in relation to this service, the Acting PCC advised the key improvement would be communication.  He explained that, following the next meeting of the 101 Panel in January, he would report back to this Panel at their meeting on 3 February 2017.

Members were keen to see information for how long people were actually on the telephone.  The Acting PCC advised that the calls were analysed very carefully but noted that the percentage figures were skewed by a relatively small number of calls that took a long time.  He undertook to circulate this information to members outside of the meeting.

Following a question about how issues being reported by email was progressing, the Acting PCC advised that it was suffering with certain teething troubles and officers were working to get the forms right . One issue that was highlighted was a frustration that some people were emailing in the middle of the night when they had nothing better to do which was taking up call handlers time to then phone them back.

In response to a comment about residents’ concerns for the 101 Service the Acting PCC felt that there was a lot of historical experience in regard to this service and people had got accustomed to complaining about the system but he stressed this was not a failing service.  In reality there were around 8 or 9 formal complaints received monthly which represented a complaint rate of 0.2%.  One member, from personal experience, felt that 80% of his calls were not a good experience and he had waited a long time on numerous occasions.

Following a discussion on a number of questions that a member from Bournemouth Borough Council wished to submit on behalf of his ward, the Chairman felt that in the first instance these should be sent to the Police to be addressed.

One member felt it would be helpful to have some comparable information from other areas to see if the service in Dorset is good or otherwise. The Panel reflected on the current timings of the 101 Service Panel and suggested there may be merit in  holding more frequent meetings.

Resolved

1. That Bill Pipe, Purbeck District Council, join the 101 Service Improvement Panel as the third Dorset Police and Crime Panel representative.

2. That the current approach to hold quarterly meetings for the 101 Service Improvement Panel be discussed and reviewed at the next meeting of the Panel in January 2017.