‘SIGNIFICANT’ improvements are being made to the police’s under-fire 101 system as a result of callers’ complaints.
The helpline, which is for residents to call in non-emergencies such as antisocial behaviour, has received criticism from members of Cudworth’s PACT meeting and the North East ward’s crime and safety group in recent weeks.
It has been claimed that some callers have endured 30-minute waits before opting to put the phone down and crime figures, which are partly gathered from data received via 101, are low because people have failed to have their incidents logged.
Supt Bob Chapman said the force needs to do more to streamline the service - and improvements are in the pipeline.
“Dealing promptly and effectively with calls from the public is the driving force behind a review we are currently undertaking of our communications centre.
“By spring 2018 we will have launched two significant technological upgrades which will reduce duplication and the requirement for call takers to search multiple IT systems when dealing with a call.
“While the benefits of this will not be immediate, we do expect to see a reduction in the duration of calls which in turn will reduce waiting times.”
Self-serve technology is something the police is encouraging residents to take advantage of to free up time, with work already having been done on the police’s website as they have found an increase of reports being made on internet-based channels such as Facebook and Twitter.
“Encouraging people to use online or self-serve technology is key to us for the future,” Supt Chapman said.
“Some interim work has been undertaken on the website and members of the public can now identify their local team and make contact via email. While this is not an ‘immediate’ reporting tool as it is not monitored 24/7, it is ideal for people to report ongoing concerns and community issues.”
PCSO Annie Dickinson, who covers villages including Brierley, Grimethorpe and Shafton, used to work in the 101 call centre and asked people to remain patient.
“It’s an incredibly demand task and very stressful,” she said. “You take, pass on and deal with multiple things whether it’s an off-road biker, a domestic or even a murder. I’m 46 and it’s easily the most stressful job I’ve ever had.
“I’ll defend any 101 call handler as I know exactly the strain they’re under - sometimes there are 20 or 30 calls queuing and you can only do what you can. I understand the frustration but people don’t appreciate just how tough it is.”
The improvement work has been welcomed by Cudworth’s Coun Charlie Wraith, who has previously slammed the service for not being up to scratch.
“The police are constantly asking for people to feed information through to them as they are the ones who witness incidents happening, but for a long time 101 has not been up to scratch,” he said. “People get fed up, even though their intention was to help the police. It’s a waste of time.
“Hopefully the improvements will make the service much better and easier for people to report incidents. It’s definitely needed as it just hasn’t worked in its current state.”
