Old Colwyn East Residents’ Association visit Police Control Centre
At 7pm on Monday 19th December 2011, five committee members of the of Old Colwyn East Residents Association attended the North Wales Police Force Control Centre (FCC) at St Asaph Business Park. They were accompanied by Old Colwyn PCSO Richard Hopkins and PCSO Llinos Hughes from Colwyn Bay who had previously worked in the Control Centre.
They were welcomed by Temporary Chief Inspector Jeff Moses and were shown into a
lecture theatre where they were given a presentation about the F.C.C before being
shown into the control room. This presentation was to be a two-
T/Chief Inspector Moses explained that May 4th 2011 was the “big bang” day when overnight big changes happened in North Wales Police and it went from being a police force with three separate distinct areas called Divisions into a police force with functional areas instead of geographical areas.
A member stated that he could not understand why the police cannot tag an incident
so that another operator can easily find the same incident to update the log. He
said that he had had several instances where he had been dealing with people and
had to re-
PCSO LLINOS HUGHES INTERJECTED and stated that she had worked in ops room and if the operator knew that a person had previously called from a phone, then it is merely a matter of entering the phone number and there is a caller list history which they can use to find the incident quickly. All the calls made by a person over the last 6 years are listed.
The reason officers ask for date of birth is data protection to make sure that the person is the person that they are speaking to.
The T/Chief Inspector explained that the roll of call taker is complicated and people are being trained all the time but the ability for a call taker to access the incident from the phone number exists and is a simple operation.
The questioner was happy with that assurance because knowledge brings understanding.
The amount of calls received in FCC is described as astounding
It is sometimes difficult to understand prioritisation as a caller. Taking calls from right across the force, the control room has to prioritise which calls have to be attended immediately where life is at risk and which can be delayed slightly or attended by appointment.
It is important that people understand that there may be three or four jobs on in Colwyn Bay or elsewhere and they may all be more important because people were being attacked or whatever and that may be a reason why a callers incident is not attended for some time. That is a message that needs to get across to the public.
A question was asked about prioritisation and how something that is low priority can be reassigned to a higher priority once more information comes to light.
The T/ Chief Inspector replied that some events are always immediate, for instance
murder or abduction. They do not under-
There is the potential for local knowledge not to be involved until a police officer sees what is happening. There is the ability to check records of what previous calls have been received at the premises. Local and national Intelligence systems can be checked and if there is a picture which develops or warning markers (Violence or domestic violence) on the address or persons involved then the call can be upgraded.
There are also special situation markers for some addresses such as “noisy neighbours” then a call about the premises will always throw up a special situation marker.
As with all computer programs there is a potential for human error and the police always try to get their priorities right in making judgements on issues.
Grading is important to the police. If the grading is not right, the response may be wrong.
A question was asked about some of our members calling in and being greeted with a response that the Control Room Police was very busy and asking for the caller to call back or alternatively no response to the phone call on 101.
The T/Chief Inspector answered that all calls to the police are through the Force Control Centre now, it is almost impossible to speak to an officer in a police station except through the switchboard who will try to connect a caller to an officer.
Calls logged in 2008/9
107,000 emergency calls
Half a million non-
7500 calls requesting for a Welsh speaking call-
243300 incidents created ~ one in two calls entail an incident being created. The rest are duplicate calls or connections to Departments.
46150 crimes were recorded as a result of ten percent of calls. The Crime Desk is also in a specific area of the Control Room.
Call handlers go through a fairly rigorous selection procedure and training in computer
systems and customer service. They answer Emergency & Non-
It is appreciated that when someone is calling the police, they don’t want to be answering what they deem to be trivial questions such as date of birth etc. What people don’t realise that if it is a serious incident the call handler has already pressed the accept button on the computer making the incident visible to the other half of the room who are already sending police officers to what is graded an immediate response Priority 0, whilst the original call taker continues to get information from the witness.
The date of birth of the caller is important as is the post code of the incident. People are requested to be prepared to give these details when they ring not take issue with the request, they are important questions.
A member asked that if he goes to an area such as Bangor where he does not know the postal area does that make the job difficult for the control room.
The T/Chief Inspector replied that it makes it slightly more difficult but they can work around that by questioning the caller about what he or she can see. If the person said outside Boots, that would be typed in and it takes a few seconds longer. Most people know their own postcode so if it is happening at their address or nearby it is an easy matter to find the location. Previous calls from that address can be accessed and linked to the phone number. There are big advantages for operators knowing exactly where the caller is and sometimes that may be lost on the caller at the time and in the circumstances.
It is important to get the message out to everyone about the non-
A member stated that our association is always giving out the 101 message and often we are told about incidents and ask the question “did you call the police?” The answer is too often “no, I did not think they would be interested.”
The T/ Chief Inspector added “If you think it is urgent, ring 999”
A member recalled an incident where a lady had called in about an incident outside her house to be asked to ring back because there were other callers in front in a busy patch. The lady had not been able to call back and had to be encouraged by a committee member to do so later that day.
The T/Chief Inspector said that he would look into that incident. He did not want to comment further until he had checked it out but there are times of day when it gets very busy; Monday morning and Friday and Saturday evenings are some, amongst others. Staff is laid on to an appropriate level to cover predictable busy times but any time can become busy.
Different forms of contact
The Call handler supervisor picks up emails sent to northwalespolice@north-
SMS number ~ 66767
Fax 01492 510777 (Force is moving away from Fax to email)
Type talk for hard of hearing 01978 294 738 to supervisor
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Priority of response
Incidents of Violence normally takes priority over crime in progress although crime in progress would usually have a high priority
Priority 0 immediate response ~ at the outside 20 minutes usually much quicker (instance violent shoplifter)
(RULES ARE NOT SET IN STONE)
Priority 1 within one hour prompt response – (instance compliant shoplifter)
Priority 2 Managed and scheduled – Non-
Managed – Crime-
Scheduled – Non-
Priority 3 / FCC resolved on the phone ~ call handler resolution ~ example I need a locksmith – the call taker will help out a vulnerable person, not involving officer outside.
Events can be tagged for a local policing team to deal with.
When things are flagged for the local policing team or others and FCC has no control thereafter.
Members of the public can contact their local policing team officers direct by phone (if on duty) or by email. Details are shown on the website and elsewhere
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SYSTEMS available to FCC
Airwave-
GPS emergency button/ Speak to Other agencies / speak to CCTV
Liaise with local authority for best use of CCTV they use airwave radios now therefore there is contact
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Monitor CCTV / A55 trunk road / FCC see an incident – as good as sending an officer.
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Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) -
Fixed sites throughout the force / Monitored in control room / Deploy officers to stop vehicles.
ANPR checks markers on Police National Computer to monitor or find wanted persons/vehicles for various reasons. It may also check that a vehicle is taxed.
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Groups within Force Control Centre
The T/Chief Inspector explained that the FCC Inspectors are Force Incident managers (FIM) to manage more serious incidents and ensure that they are dealt with correctly. Also to manage all the various sections within FCC.
Fire Service control is also situated in FCC
Force Incident Manager (FIM) & supervisors manage Critical incidents and life at risk incident Command and control/ Coordinate other agencies / authorise deployment of Firearms / Pursuits management / Liaison wi th and from other forces, a point of contact for officers within the force. In charge of critical incidents until three layer command structure is put in place at which stage the FIM has a middle management role.
Emergency and Priority Communications (EPCOM) in a corner of the FCC room deals with handling 999 calls /dispatch /policy /protocols /standard operating procedures / update incidents/ Monitor/ radio.
Incident Management Centre( IMC) is co-
Investigation Support Team (IST) also referred to by some as (Crime Desk) is in another corner of the FCC room
Crime desk /Process crime / Handle calls / crimes police not required / Provide details to victims of crime/ keep crime statistics.
The Intelligence cell (I-
They are experts in interrogating computer systems ~ PNC systems /Gather info and Intelligence about incidents and calls.
In urgent operations Intel cell can research information about a suspect and send operational officers information and photos by means of Blackberry devices that each officer carries. Officers can photograph something and send it to FCC. This is a very useful leap forward where technology works well to improve policing.
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The present view is that police officers should be out on the street and that is the way that things are progressing, there are few police officers in the control room now and in a couple of years’ time there will probably be a lot fewer. This is in direct conflict with the situation a couple of years ago when civilian staff members were pensioned off to save money because of cuts. On that occasion police officers were moved in to FCC and the role expanded to encompass the Home Office term,” front line officers”
Over next two years there will be far fewer police officers than two years ago
In reply to a question about the difference between the force now against how it
was a few years ago before computerisation, the T/ Chief Inspector explained that
the Independent Police Complaints Commission monitors the police force and now
different units that were not heard of ten years ago deal with everything rather
than the old multi-
Statistics and monitoring
Quality of service~ The police are very interested in QuOS. Issues are constantly reviewed.
Call handling standards ~ All calls are recorded in the room. They may be retrieved.
In certain crimes the call is always re-
Call handling targets ~ a computer system monitors and reports on how quickly calls are answered and how many are answered within target times.
Immediate calls response times.
The SWIFT survey
A member stated that in his view there were inherent problems with the SWIFT survey. They are provided with the fact that a person called the police recently and no more. If asked “what day?” if a person has called the police on more than one occasion they cannot answer. Therefore the person cannot answer. It gives a false picture. One must ask if the considerable expense to employ an outside company for Police authority purposes is really worth it if it does not give a true picture.
DIP sampling -
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The group were then taken through to the control room to see it in action.
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The group was shown a training room full of computers which as well as being a training venue, could also be used as a live room in an emergency.
The FCC is a very large square room, fronted by a raised area “Top desk” for FCC
management and obviously filled with sound proofed desks and a fair number of police
staff. It was obvious from what we had learned in the classroom situation, prior
to our entry, that the room was divided into sub-
It was obvious that officers were working as we watched but the noise level was acceptable and people were working without being distracted. We were told that in certain situations, noise levels can rise.
The group was introduced to an operational senior officer, Chief Inspector Nigel Harrison who was doing a period of duty as SILVER COMMANDER in an office attached to the main room and easily supported in a serious situation. He was carrying out via computer some of his own work for Holyhead, Anglesey area whilst being available instantly to the FIM in the event of a serious incident developing. He could in certain situations deploy himself out to manage an incident (such as a multiple fatal traffic accident), whilst the FIM is based in the FCC The concept of the Gold and Silver Cadre system was explained ~ to ensure expert management was applied to all serious incidents from the outset; Strategic ,Tactical and Operational .
Gold command is Chief Officer Level for strategic planning purposes – in North Wales Police this also includes some trained and accredited Chief Superintendents.
Silver Command is for Tactical planning purposes; Silver Commanders tend to be Inspectors in the Control Room up to Chief Superintendent. What is most important is ability and competence rather than rank.
Bronze command is operational command at the incident level.
This level of commitment and availability clearly impressed the group. It was discussed that one central FCC was more efficient than the previous 3 control rooms. There is the ability for an officer with local knowledge of an area to become involved if necessary. The officers are grouped on desks, east west and central, according to their own local knowledge but there is also a commitment to officers learning other areas as well.
All senior officers above the rank of Inspector perform some form of on-
Silver Cadre is performed by both Superintendents and Chief Inspectors in the force. They take a turn at being Silver Commander 6am to 6pm and 6pm until 6am. Some of that is on call and the system works well. The role of police is to coordinate and control agencies at incidents.
The T/Chief Inspector explained that at the predictable busy times of day, there are two overlapping shifts on duty. It was commented that it was good to hear that CCTV was operating using Airwave now, there was a time when that was not permitted. Supervisors make decisions about how many persons should be logged into the 999 system as call handlers.
Members commented to the T/ Chief Inspector about their ability following the visit to convey the reality of the job of the FCC operatives, to members of the public who have problems. The visit had been a real eye opener and had impressed the members. Not only with what happens in the FCC but also with the professionalism of the officers and the organisation.
It was discussed that even with the very best organisation everything does not happen like clockwork on every occasion. It is good to know the policies and protocols concerned. The T/Chief Inspector also asked that if any problems were experienced in future that contact with FCC was welcomed and issues would be investigated.
Temporary Chief Inspector Jeff Moses was thanked for his time and effort in hosting the visit.
