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Access to Policing Scrutiny

The Access to Policing Scrutiny reported to the Scrutiny and Audit Committee on 26 November 2008.  Fieldwork was carried out between 4 August 2008 and 23 October 2008.  Access to Policing involved consultation with local communities.

The full reports are available to download at the bottom of this page.

The Audit, Risk and Governance Committee will monitor and evaluate the progress made against these recommendations on a quarterly basis

Objectives

The Panel aimed to achieve the following:

  • Carry out a review of the current situation in regard to Access to Policing.
  • Assess the customer's experience of accessing policing services through consultation and engagement.
  • Identify best practice.
  • Identify areas for improvement.
  • Make recommendations.

Scope

In order to maximise the benefits from the scrutiny process, the Panel explored the following specific areas relating to Access to Policing:

  • A review of the current state of access for the public to policing in Lincolnshire including police stations, mobile police stations, the FCCC (including call handling, training provision, quality aspects and customer satisfaction standards), Neighbourhood Policing teams, Neighbourhood Panels, street surgeries and police surgeries available in conjunction with partner organisations.
  • For each area, where appropriate, the review will cover:
    • Equality of access
    • Physical access
    • Technological access (website, kiosks, text, minicom)
    • Transport links
    • Availability (opening hours).
  • The identification of technological solutions to improve access; including any evidence based good practice.
  • Consideration of the impact of the mobile data project.
  • An evidence based assessment of the public’s view and experience of access to policing through consultation and engagement exercises.
  • The production of a report that details areas for improvement and development, including recommendations about how physical access to policing can be developed.

Findings and Recommendations

The Panel made the following 21 recommendations: 

  1. The Force provides updates to the Authority on the progress made with regard to the roll out of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).
  2.  The Authority monitors the Force’s progress with regard to delivering the assurances made in the Quality of Service Commitment. 
  3. The Force is advised to check out the viability of gaining funds to train call handlers/PCSOs through the Train to Gain (TtG) initiative.
  4. The Force considers incorporating a corporate approach to their customer satisfaction training programme in order to ensure consistent standards of customer focus across the organisation.
  5. The Force consider applying the ‘organisational raid’ methodology to develop Service Improvement plans.
  6. The Force considers providing clear external signage to the 18 stations identified as not having this currently.
  7. The Scrutiny and Audit Committee are updated on the Force’s intention or otherwise, to provide professional internal signage to stations across the county.
  8. The Force considers the costings associated with providing Braille signage at their Police Stations and provides an update to the Scrutiny and Audit Committee on their decision.
  9. The Force considers ways to maximise access to police stations through flexible working arrangements and innovative initiatives (e.g. volunteers) where possible.
  10. The Force investigates the requirement and cost of introducing minicom facilities to the larger, more frequented stations.
  11. The Force considers developing an awareness raising campaign to promote access opportunities for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
  12. The Force considers how it gathers feedback from customers and updates the Authority on any plans for improvements.
  13. The Force review accessibility at Boston Police Station, Wainfleet Police Station and Wragby Rural Beat Office as the Police Authority were unable to make contact and include these stations in the review.
  14. The Authority review the Access Audits on an annual basis and note progress made from the audits carried out in 2003.
  15. The Force takes a corporate approach to managing the mobile police stations to ensure efficiency in deployment, to maximise usage and to ensure consistency in their overall management, monitoring of usage, deployment to schools, sharing of good practice and partnership working. 
  16. The Authority considers undertaking further scrutiny of the Force Communication and Control Centre (FCCC) to further look at issues raised in this report.
  17. The Force investigates the viability of developing a self service strategy.
  18. The Force considers developing a single email point of contact and publicising email addresses of local Neighbourhood Policing teams on the Force website.
  19. The Force considers the provision of a 24 hour email service (out of office hours emails possibly monitored via the FCCC).
  20. The Force update the Authority on any decisions/progress made with regard to the ‘out of office’ function.The Authority shares the results of the scrutiny consultation exercise with members of the public via the website and email.
  21. The Authority shares the results of the scrutiny consultation exercise with members of the public via the website and email.