Streetsafe and the Reassurance Agenda
The department has a key role to play in progressing the organisation's "Reassurance Strategy. The impact on the outcome of investigations and the long-term perception of callers will be shaped, often significantly, by the quality of the initial contact made with the organisation. As a starting point it is vital that we adopt an appropriate and standard greeting which sets a professional tone for the remainder of the interaction between operator and caller. It is often easy to forget that in many cases the caller will be nervous or unsure about making contact with us. A curt unfriendly or otherwise inappropriate response will, in all probability, result in the alienation of that caller from the organisation with the attendant loss of information/intelligence, poor publicity and ultimately an overall reduction in public reassurance. A range of performance indicators has been defined which will allow the management team of the Communications Department to effectively monitor the contribution the Department makes to enhancing public reassurance and therefore the quality of life of the residents of County Durham and Darlington. These indicators will be developed as the introduction of technology facilitates the capture of more meaningful data. The current indicators are reproduced at Appendix A.
Important elements within this suite of indicators will be those relating to the appropriate use of the Durham Constabulary Graded Response Policy. Allocations of grade will be subject to systematic and structured dip sampling by supervisory teams. This, together with constant "real time" monitoring of grading decisions will ensure that the policy and its application remain appropriate and allow the organisation to deploy officers only where their presence is likely to add value. This will free up officer's time to resolve quality of life issues and provide enhanced high visibility policing for communities.
Professionalising the Investigative Process
The Communications Department plays a vital role in the early stages
of any investigation. Not only can staff direct resources promptly
where crimes are being committed, they should also ask relevant
questions that may lead to clear descriptions being established and
advice that could secure crucial evidence.
