LOCAL Policing is at the heart of Police Scotland and nowhere is this truer than in the Contact Command and Control (C3) Division which receives more than 3.5 million calls from the public every year, or one call every 9 seconds.

We recognise how important our 999 and 101 services are to our communities and we strive to provide a consistently professional response to the public. We recognised from the start of Police Scotland the need to modernise the call handling arrangements we inherited from the previous eight forces, under which many important systems could not speak to one another and differences in processes meant that communities across the country received a varying quality of service.

We saw that we needed to remodel our approach so that we could respond to incidents across the previous boundaries and maintain our ability to keep people safe.We are more connected than ever with the vast majority of people owning a smart phone that can connect to anyone and access the internet at the touch of a button.

In Police Scotland we also need to embrace the opportunities technology provides to keep all communities safe. Earlier this year, schools across the country received a number of hoax bomb calls that caused significant alarm. In instances such as this the public would rightly expect us promptly to assess the risks, identify the resources needed and provide a quick and coordinated response. We were able to do this to a standard not possible in legacy forces.

We did, however, experience unnecessary technical challenges in one area where nationally consistent systems and processes had not yet been introduced. That has been addressed and our ongoing improvement programme will provide an even more connected, effective and efficient service, particularly for communities in the north that will benefit from the next phase of reorganisation.

Our new systems will provide an enhanced service to communities and individuals. For example, previously our area control rooms, where officers are dispatched to incidents, were only able to communicate with and give tasks to those working in their immediate area, even if there was an officer nearer but just across a previous force boundary.

The changes will allow us to identify the nearest officer regardless of where they are. This single integrated model will mean our officers are better able to help where and when needed. We will be able to pinpoint the exact location, mode of transport and availability of officers on a digital map and direct them to incidents while ensuring they are safe.

The creation of the Police Scotland Service Centre, which receives calls from the public, is one of the most significant milestones in our programme. It will see calls being answered by the first available call handler in Bilston Glen, Govan or Motherwell. During peak times such as Hogmanay, or during a major incident, this will increase our capacity by distributing calls across the country, allowing us to help the public more promptly and effectively.

The introduction of a national customer relationship management system will allow us, for the first time, to see any previous contact callers have had with us right across the country. We will be able to identify any threats or vulnerabilities, for example where there has been a history of domestic abuse, and prioritise the police response effectively and consistently. Call handlers will also have more information and options so that they can resolve issues with the public more often in just one call.

We recognise that how we handle calls is a matter of real public interest and that our programme of change has received its fair share of criticism, some of which has been justified. As a result, we have reviewed our plans working with the Scottish Police Authority and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland and made a number of improvements.

The changes will ensure that, should people need to contact us, we will provide a high quality service, more promptly and more consistently than before, regardless of where the call comes from. In addition, the local officer, or a specialist officer will be there for you as promptly as possible if necessary. These are the key ingredients for effective local policing.

John Hawkins is Assistant Chief Constable, Service and Protection, Police Scotland.