Esther Coller's blog

Communications Departmental Award May 2012

The Story Behind The Scenes of the Award Ceremony

This is the second award ceremony held for the Communications Department. As with last year, it was held at Slaugham Manor, which itself is a treat to attend as it is such a beautiful location.

There are many areas of specialism within the Communications Department such as Police Contact Centre (non emergency), Resourcing Rooms (999 and Radio Controllers), CCTV and Quality and Customer Service team. All these departments play a role within the Communications Department and without these roles Sussex Police would not able to operate. The variety of roles and their importance has been reflected in awards given yesterday afternoon.

When I attended last year to receive an award I truly didn’t think about how much effort people would have gone through to get it organised. I was made aware of this whilst I have been working with Emily on other projects recently as she was tackling the enormous task of organising this years event.

Emily, Nat and I went to Slaugham manor early afternoon to put up the banners, ensure the chairs and tables were in the correct places etc.  We were confident that it would all be ready and set up by the time the Command team arrived. Well this was until we stumbled across the tricky task of putting up the boards for the background of the photos (see the corner of this picture). These boards are the rolled type with a pole in the back to make it stand up straight. Well, this may sound easy however, it did turn into a problem for us as they all seemed to be either wonky or bent, (I am embarrassed to say this did turn into how many police staff does it take to put up a sign) but we got the signs up in the end.

When the Command team started to arrive there was a brief moment to enjoy a quick cuppa coffee and tea before the recipients arrived.

There was the opportunity for all to catch up before the ceremony started, many sharing their thoughts about the awards and  speaking about how they were feeling a little nervous about standing in front of their colleagues, friends and families.

The ceremony was a chance for friends and family to see what an excellent job and a difference their loved ones make working within the team representing Sussex Police.

Chief Superintendent Wayne Jones opened the ceremony who was then followed by Professor Gordon Bull. Assistant Chief Constable Robin Merrett spoke of his experience spending time as a call handler. The stand was then handed over to Jo Ball (Police Contact Centre Manager) and Chief Inspector Steve Brookman (Head of Emergency Resorcing room) who spoke of the reasons for each of the awards. Each person’s certificates were presented by Professor Gordon Bull and Assistant Chief Constable Robin Merrett.

There were so many different reasons for the awards given yesterday. Some were presented as a accreditation for long term general effort and achievement. Others were presented for outstanding life changing actions by call handlers from PCC and the Resourcing rooms. I have included a few citations ……

A Emergency Call Handler (ECH) received a 999 call ‘without service’ . The ECH discovered the call was being made by an elderly female, trapped in her living room, this was filling with smoke from a fire in the basement area. The lady was obviously in an excitable and distressed state, close to a state of collapse, the ECH was able to calm and reassure her, establish her whereabouts in the building, and then contact the Fire and Ambulance service. The ECH remained on the line through out the rescue, relaying details to the fire service and reassuring the elderly victim. The lady was located and extracted from the building alive.

I have no doubt that the ECH’s actions assisted in the successful rescue of this elderly lady

A Police Contact Centre Call Handler (PCCCI) is recognised for the excellent communication skills and compassion demonstrated when she took a call from a suicidal man sitting on the cliff edge on the south coast.  The PCCCI very quickly recognised the seriousness of the call and built a relationship with the caller.  Sounding extremely calm and reassuring the PCCCI maintained a conversation with the caller whilst directing officers to the location.  Whilst on the call the PCCCI managed to persuade the caller to move away form the cliff edge and to climb back over the fence to a safer place.  The caller was very grateful for the PCCCI’s time and empathy and thanked her at the end of the call for changing his mind and getting him to safety

The whole of the Communications Department plays an important part in the Sussex Police Family, whether it’s taking the calls from the members of the public or recording of the crime reports along with many other tasks. The awards ceremony is a brilliant way to highlight the brilliant work that is being completed on a daily basis across the communications team.

I hope I have given a brief view of what a great afternoon yesterday was, and I hope that other staff feel as I do, that the awards ceremony is a brilliant way to celebrate hard work.

I have included more photos below to view. All these photos were taken by me with a camera phone so please forgive me if any are out of focus. Also sorry about my finger in the corner of a few of them.

Wed 2 May 12:06PM

Police Cad checks

Well Good Morning….

One of today’s tasks for me is to carry out routine checks on our Command and Control system.This system is used daily, by the entire force. Nearly every call we receive in the Police Contact Centre should be recorded onto this system. So when you are given a police serial / Cad reference this is what it refers to.

Each CAD is required to have basic information such as;

- Name, Address, Telephone of caller (people can stay anonymous if they wish)

- Location of offence

- Relevant grade - e.g. This can vary from Urgent Police response to planned response (this is dependent of the situation and can change at any time if the circumstances change)

- Title - A clear title is required so if there is a list of jobs for someone to view they will be able to prioritise not only by the grade but by what is happening.

- Opening Code - You are required to select an opening code, again this is to help identify the job quickly but also for auditing purposes. e.g. If I was to receive a call in regards to a road accident this would be opened as RTC, or a stolen motor vehicle would be C_Vehicle. The “C_ means” it is a crime.

Along with the above information a clear rationale of what the incident is about should be written in the free text. Once you have added the text onto the CAD it is not able to be deleted, so it is always good to make sure it is spelt correctly (as you may have noticed spelling is not my strong point).

However when it is an emergency you will need to get the information onto the screen as quickly as possible. This will then enable you to send the CAD to the electronically to the Controllers. The controllers work in the resourcing centres (where the 999 calls go through to based at Gatwick, Haywards Heath and Brighton). They are in control of the jobs being given out to the officers via the radio.

I will be looking at the CADs to ensure the above points have been covered as well as the correct grading etc. When taking some calls we are required to carry out some further checks etc which I will be checking as well.

This can be quite a difficult job as you are only reading what has been put down and not listening to the call. This is one of the main examples of why it is so important that you have explained what is happening clearly on the CAD.

I best get on….

Have a good day.

Tue 24 Apr 8:02AM

Crime Investigation Mangement System tasks....

First of all today, my task if to check for any Cims tasks. These are messages that Police Staff and Officers can send to the relevant departments when there is a request for a change to a crime report.

In QCST (Quality and Customer Service Team) we generally receive only tasks from staff in the contact centre. PCC staff are the main inputters for crime reports, the information for the reports can come members for the public when they call in or from an officer investigating the case.

There are a large amount of types of requests we receive but here are just a few;

Additional Information -e.g.Further information from the victim which suggests a crime had not taken please e.g. Person had thought that their purse had been stolen but it has been found at home, so must have forgotten it rather then having it stolen.

Different Sussex Police area - e.g. After further investigation from the officer it appears that the offence may have taken place in a slightly different area than first thought. When a crime report is created the first two letters and the first digit is populated by the area of the offence location, if the location changes then a whole new report needs to be created.

Administration duplicate - e.g. sometimes more than one report of the same incident can be recorded in error. 

It is important to understand that each request has to meet strict requirements before any amendments can be changed, and it is fully audited.

Any way must get on and complete today’s Cims, tasks.

Mon 23 Apr 7:42AM

Sussex Police People Catch Up.....

Well this afternoon a few of us involved in Sussex Police People had a catch up over coffee and cakes.( A lovely drizzle cake from Belinda and very chocolaty cornflake cakes, handmade by Lorna)

It was great to see everyone in the flesh, although it feels and if we all know each other by reading blogs etc. I really enjoyed hearing how everyone was finding twitter, tumblr, uploading photos etc. I am glad I am not the only one having trouble with the tech side. By throwing a few ideas around we were able to suggest to each other what we would like to see on on their blogs and what we can all do together to show how each of our roles really links in.

We will hopefully be able crack on with some of the ideas/suggestion that were raised soon, so keep checking out all of our blogs!

Fri 20 Apr 3:56PM

Track My Crime (TMC) Coming to Sussex Police

Over the last couple of weeks I have been asked to write a very brief overview of the system Track My Crime in order to give the staff in the Police Contact Centre an understanding of how this exciting system can assist them, officers and members of the public.

I started last week and will continue into the next, giving briefing sessions to Deputy Supervisor and Supervisors of the Police Contact Centre so they can spread the word to all the staff in the PCC.

Whilst writing the briefing page for my colleagues I thought, hey I think it would be great if I also wrote a brief overall for all of you, the members of public that this system was designed for.

So what is Track My Crime?

Track My Crime or TMC is a (new to Sussex Police) on-line service for victims of crime to access the progress of the investigation of their crime as well as contact the officer leading the investigation.

When the officer updates his/her notes this can automatically populate the TMC system, alerting the victim by email/text that they have a new update on their case. It also gives the victim the opportunity to email the officer direct with any queries relating to the case.

Police officers work night shifts and as we all know it can be frustrating for the officer and the victim if they can not contact each other due to unsociable hours. So this is a great new way in which officers can keep the victims up to date with the progression of the case at any time of the day or night.

How does it work?

When an officer has been allocated to investigate the crime in which you are a victim for, they will ask you which is the best method of contact for you is, for example mobile, home line etc but soon in Sussex TMC will be another option.

You will be asked to give the officer a secure email address, which ideally you will be the sole user for. Then you will receive an email with a link to click and this will direct you in how to set up an account, such as adding name address, date of birth and a password. This is very similar to any bank or on line account. It is a secure site!

Then once set up you can select how you would like to be notified of any updates or changes to your case by text/email etc.

If your case involves any stolen of damaged property you will be able to view from TMC the details of the property which have been recorded on the crime system. You can send any updates on property e.g. IMEI number of a mobile phone or a serial number. These updates will be received by the officer.

Will it work?

YES! Avon and Somerset Police along with many other forces have this system in place already and feel it is of great benefit to officers and victims.

When will it be in Sussex?

In the not to distant future…..I will let you know once a go live date in confirmed.

This is a very brief overview of what this system can do. If you do choose this method of contact from the officer investigating your case then it can be explained in full.

Tue 17 Apr 7:25AM

Big Change in the Police Contact Centre

One week ago today some big changes have happened for the staff in the Police Contact Centre PCC.  Our Force Appointment Setting Unit has now merged into the PCC.

Now some of you may be thinking well, I don’t know what FASU did so I don’t know how this would effect the PCC anyway, well I will explain…..

Previously, when PCC receive a call or email from a member of the public we create a CAD (cads/serials are electronic accounts of the details given to us). If after questioning, if it is suitable for the member of public to be seen by an appointment rather than police attending straight away, this CAD would be electronically sent to FASU. It would be then down to the FASU team to call the victim/person back to arrange a suitable time for them to see an officer.

This was the process that was in place when appointments were first trialled within this new department for PCC. 

Now, the appointment procedure has become second nature to Sussex Police and the merger has begun. Appointments can be made with the caller whilst on the call to the staff in the PCC.

This big change for PCC as it means using our current system in a slightly different way. It will be a great benefit for the member of the public as this will mean that if suitable, an appointment for a time that is convenient to you is booked whilst you are on the initial call. So no waiting for a call back.

The new procedure has been only in a week now, but I have every faith that this will become an efficient way of serving the public.

Thu 12 Apr 8:15AM

BBC Real Rescues are here at HQ!!!

Both yesterday and today Real Rescues have been filming in the Police Contact Centre.

Real Rescues is a British documentary exploring the daily work of the emergency services. Real Rescues is at the heart of the action with the emergency services including the police, fire, ambulance, coastguard and lifeboat crews.

It has been quite an eventful few days at Sussex Police HQ. On Monday the film crew arrived with all the equipment needed along with a trailer. We have been moved out of our normal office to make room for the crew to use it as a makeup room.

It is like working on a film set. There has been additional lighting been erected and two people with large cameras walk around behind you. At first I thought it might be off putting when you do receive a call from a member of public but I along with my experienced colleagues, are able to block out all that is happening around us in order to provide the same high level of service to the public. However in the few moments when you are waiting for a call, we are all having a good look at what is going on.

It’s really great for the public to get a feel for what it is like in the contact centre along with other departments within Sussex Police.

I have been asked to explain about a call that has come into the PCC. As it takes hours and hours of film to put together a great show I am not sure if it will be used, so we will have to wait and see…….

Wed 4 Apr 4:43PM

In Memory of Val

Today in the Police Contact Centre a coffee morning and raffle will be taking place.

This is being held in memory of our dear Val who sadly lost her battle with cancer on the 1st March last year, tomorrow would have been her birthday. All monies raised will be split between The Chestnut Tree Children’s Hospice near Arundel and St Wilfred’s Hospice Eastbourne. Val spent some time at St Wilfred’s in her final weeks and they also supported her when she made the decision to return home. Hospices receive very little funding from the NHS, the majority of their funding comes from donations so they are always grateful for any monies they receive.

PCC staff will have the opportunity to wear smart casual, preferably some red (Val’s favourite colour) rather than uniform and make a donation to the charities, normally £1.00

The organisers have put a lot of hard work into arranging today and it shows with the great spread of cakes and goodies. Prizes have been donated from a number of their colleagues and now there is over 80 prizes to be won.

Wed 28 Mar 9:09AM

Voices In Roof!

I received a call from an elderly lady who was extremely upset. She was having trouble to speak but kept repeating that no one can help her. After reassuring her that I can help her, I gave her my name and managed to get hers. The lady was saying that someone was in her roof and in the walls.

Firstly I needed to establish if she was in any immediate danger. I took control of the call and was able after some investigative questioning establish that in fact there was not actually someone in her house but she could her voices. The voices were coming from the loft area.

I knew that sending Police Officers round to her house was not going to assist this lady, so I asked her how I could help her. She then went on to explain that her health care worker often shouts to them to go away and they do. So I suggested that I too shout to them to go away. So she agreed to hold the phone up to the loft hatch and I shouted for them to go away.

Within moments she seemed to become calm and said that they went away. Before I came off the phone I needed to ensure that she has the support and long term help that she needs. After confirming that her health care worker was due that afternoon I was happy that she was Ok to continue on with her day. I made sure that she knew to call the police or has care worker if she needed any other help.

From working in the PCC I have to assess each call on its merits, sending a police officer is not always what the caller actually needs.

Wed 28 Mar 8:12AM