‘Considerable progress’ in call handling at Police Scotland

A report published today (August 31) by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) said Police Scotland has made “considerable progress” in contact, command and control and the change to the manner in which it responded to calls.

The assurance review of the operational impact of the force’s award-winning Contact Assessment Model (CAM) found it had played a “crucial role in maintaining public trust and confidence in policing”.

Changes to call handling procedures within Police Scotland were recommended by HMICS following the tragic deaths of John Yuill and Lamara Bell in a crash on the M9 near Stirling in 2015. The pair were found by officers three days after an initial call was made to Police Scotland which reported their car was off the road.

Since then, no other operational area of policing has received such sustained levels of scrutiny from HMICS.

HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Craig Naylor said: “CAM was instrumental in enabling Police Scotland to maintain an appropriate level of service to communities across Scotland during an unprecedented and challenging period.

“Our findings are positive, endorse the concept and ambition of CAM and it is important to acknowledge the considerable progress which has been made in this area of policing. Its roll-out across Scotland was accelerated when the impact of the pandemic started to be felt.

“CAM was able to be adapted depending on what level of restrictions were in place at any given time, in different parts of the country. And while it is clear its long-term potential benefits were adversely affected by Covid-19, it had a crucial role in maintaining public trust and confidence in policing.”

HMICS said call handling is a “critically important” aspect of policing, often being the first point of contact for people in need of urgent assistance, reporting a crime or seeking advice.

Around 3,400,000 contacts are made with Police Scotland every year, the majority via the force’s Contact Command and Control Division (C3).

The first phase of CAM – which was awarded the prestigious Campbell Christie Public Sector Reform Award – was introduced in 2019 following a recommendation made by HMICS that Police Scotland should adopt a more “formalised risk and vulnerability assessment model”. Following the outbreak of the pandemic, full roll out was expedited and completed in April 2020 five months early.

The service now uses an assessment framework, known as THRIVE (threat, harm, risk, investigative opportunity, vulnerability and engagement) to consider the needs of each caller, the circumstances of each call and incident to ensure the appropriate response is provided.

Given the requirement to ask sufficient questions to establish the threat, harm, risk, vulnerability and opportunities for investigation, it was recognised by Police Scotland that it would result in calls of longer duration.

HMICS found more training in this area would improve investigative opportunities, vulnerabilities and engagement, especially in more complex incidents, and ensure a thorough assessment was provided as the incident moves through the police system.

In addition, HMICS noted the ability of Police Scotland to divert incidents to more appropriate organisations had been hindered during the pandemic and C3 staff needed to be more proactive in transferring incidents to partners to ensure those most in need received the most suitable response.

Mr Naylor welcomed the steps taken within C3 to create a learning culture, especially in relation to the notifiable incident process, where experience was shared on incidents handled well or where improvements could be made.

“There is always a level of risk which must be managed in the operation of police call handling,” he said. “Notable incidents will take place, however ensuring they are appropriately investigated, trends analysed and lessons learned to drive continuous improvement is the key.”

The inspection team listened to 360 calls made to the division and found them to be of a “consistently high standard handled with empathy and genuine willingness to help”.

However, it highlighted that CAM had not delivered the intended benefits in terms of reduction in demand for local policing officers, nor were ‘resolution teams’ currently able to ease that burden.

Resolution teams are tasked with managing direct crime recording and phone diary appointments in addition to management of incidents passed to them. The strategic intention is to remove 15 per cent of demand from local policing.

However, on occasion, victims of crime have had to repeat details of their incident two or three times as it is passed from the first point of contact, to resolution teams then to local policing officers and possibly onto a specialist investigative department, said HMICS.

Police Scotland has been recommended to review the training within resolution teams to provide a more victim-centred approach and reduce the number of crime reports going to other areas of policing for completion.

A key component of CAM was the introduction of local policing appointments (LPA) where a mutually agreed time was set for police officers to attend, if there was not a need for an immediate or urgent response.

“LPAs work best in urban areas and there is a lack of consistency in their provision across Scotland and an associated risk of the victim disengaging,” said HMICS.

The report contains eight recommendations for Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), which will be monitored against progress.

Recommendation 1 – Police Scotland should demonstrate that the management of LPAs ensures the public receives a consistent level of service across Scotland.

Recommendation 2 – Police Scotland should broaden the training and support provided to service advisers, by including inputs from specialists, to enable them to better consider investigative opportunities, vulnerabilities and engagement within their THRIVE assessments.

Recommendation 3 – Police Scotland and the SPA should capture the failure demand rate through the C3 and force performance framework and outcomes, to ensure the quality of service delivered to the public through CAM is monitored.

Recommendation 4 – Police Scotland should review the working practices and training within the resolution teams, particularly in relation to direct crime recording, to provide a more victim-orientated approach and to reduce the number of crime reports being returned to local policing divisions or to other areas for completion.

Recommendation 5 – Police Scotland should take steps to ensure staff within Area Control Rooms, Service Centres and resolution teams are diverting incidents to partner agencies, whenever that agency is better placed to deal with the incident.

Recommendation 6 – Police Scotland and the SPA should progress the engagement with Scottish government and other strategic partners to ensure service users are being supported by the most appropriate agency.

Recommendation 7 – Police Scotland must improve the resilience and capability of its core police ICT systems to ensure C3 Division staff have efficient access to the information required to perform their roles.

Recommendation 8 – The SPA and Police Scotland should put in place measures to monitor progress against the areas for development outlined in this assurance review.

Mr Naylor said: “This assurance review is one of the first in which we have introduced a self-evaluation process before the inspection team embarked upon their fieldwork. This new approach encourages continuous improvement and it has been of great benefit in ensuring our inspection activity adds value. I would like to thank all those in Police Scotland and the SPA who contributed to the self-evaluation and to the assurance review.”