Central Scotland Police

Force Communication and Service Centre

How many people work in the Service Centre?

The Service Centre is staffed with 6 Supervisors (police staff) and 41 Service Advisers (police staff) working on a shift rota covering 24hrs per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year. It is managed by the Service Centre Manager who reports to the Chief Inspector, Resource and Demand Management.

How many people work in the Communications and Control Centre?

The FCCC is staffed with 7 Police Inspectors, 25 Area Dispatchers (police officers and police staff) and 5 Communication Supervisors (police staff) working on a shift rota covering 24 x 7 x 365. FSC Service Advisors work in both areas answering 999 and non-emergency calls.

How many calls are answered?

We answer on average 90 999 and 900 non-emergency calls per day which is just under 31,000 calls per month.

57% of all calls answered are resolved within the Service Centre and do not require a police resource e.g. directions; lost dogs; lost & found property; general advice.

17% of calls are transferred to departments or police officers already dealing with an incident.

26% of calls are logged for police action ranging from grade 1 calls e.g. crime in progress to grade 5 calls where no attendance is required.

Do Police Officers work in the Service Centre?

There are 14 police officers in the Service Centre staffing the Public Assistance Desk (PAD). The officers deal with a variety of things:

• Action grade 5 calls where general advice can be given.
• Call back complainers to update them on the progress of their call.
• Record minor or historical crime from a complainer over the telephone.

Who decides if a police attendance is required?

Staff in the Service Centre make the initial assessment of a call and grade it in accordance with the Force Attendance Criteria, in consideration of individual needs. Once a call card is transferred to the area dispatcher, they make the final decision on the grading of the call and officer attendance.

If further information is required, the PAD officer can re-contact the complainer.

Do you have service targets?

The Service Centre aim to answer 90% of calls within 40 seconds.

The time it takes to answer your call is very important to us, however, it is more important that we provide a quality service to all callers. Our staff are genuinely interested in helping callers and can find that one minute they are dealing with an emergency situation quickly and efficiently and the next they are offering words of comfort to someone who finds themself to be a victim of crime.

All support staff have signed the Official Secrets Act and have been fully trained on all Force systems, policies and customer care. Callers should therefore have no concerns about giving confidential information to the person who answers the phone. The more information you can give to the person who answers your call, the better equiped they will be to make a decision on the level of response required to deal with your query or problem effectively.

The Service Centre is staffed to deal with predicted call volumes, however there will be times when calls are higher than expected and you may have to wait for an answer. Please be patient in these circumstances.

If you are reporting an emergency e.g. danger to life; crime in progress you should always dial 999. When you report something to the police, you will be asked for your contact details. We will clarify spelling and all details to ensure we are recording correct information from you.

All information taken is confidential and if you do not wish the police to visit you then that will be respected. You can report incidents and remain anonymous, however you must understand that police options can be limited if witnesses are unwilling to give statements.

From information that you give, the service advisor can locate exactly where in the force the incident is taking place and can pass calls to police officers within seconds of taking information from you. It may seem that we ask a lot of questions but this is to help Police Officers deal with the incident you are reporting in the most efficient manner.