Police control room takeover a hit with public

Te public jumped at the chance to see the inner workings of the police call control room.

For 24 hours, staff from the Wiltshire Police control room, in Devizes, took control of the force's social media channels including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

Officers said the purpose was to show the public the demand the control room faces on a typical Saturday, as part of the Click or Call campaign. More information about this campaign can be found at https://swindonlink.com/news/click-or-call-campaign-social-media/

The police shared stories from call handlers and provided live statistics throughout the day in an attempt to show the public how many non-emergency calls the service gets to 999. The force included audio of an individual calling the emergency number during the European Championships to tell the operators that 'it was coming home.'

Chief Insp Doug Downing said: "We left it to the staff. They had control over the social media accounts to give a real insight into our demand over 24 hours.

“It was a collaborative idea across the organisation. We recognise the demand is increasing and we've got to ask ourselves what we can do to stem the demand whilst providing that high level of service to the people who need it most.

"We still want to provide that critical service to people who are vulnerable, need our support and need our intervention, but we're trying to tackle that unnecessary demand by asking, could people get what they need online.

"It's a snapshot of what our call handlers deal with. We have a brilliant team and very talented individuals that demonstrate vast amounts of perseverance and patience every week, 24 hours a day.

"Hopefully we showed the public the fantastic work they do whilst reminding people of the services they can access online.

“The response to the content we put out was fantastic and there was a real understanding, especially around the nuisance and prank calls, of the pressure we are under.

“We will always be here for you when you need us the most and don’t want to discourage people in a genuine emergency situation from calling 999. However, if we have made people realise, if they are not in an emergency, where they should go, then it has been a successful exercise.”

On Saturday 24 July, the control room reported taking 238 calls to 999 between 7am - 10:30pm and 333 calls to 101. The force responded to 425 logs throughout the course of the day. 

Calls taken across the weekend included a serious injury collision on the A36, a collision involving a horse in Chippenham and a car meet in Swindon.

Control room operators said that while many of the calls made to 999 were emergencies, the team also had calls for non-emergencies to the same number. These non emergency calls to 999 included individuals complaining about the price of cocktails at a pub, asking for the non-emergency number, complaining about a car parked in their space and a pocket dial from a nightclub. 

Wiltshire Police says throughout the summer, it will continue to share stories, give insight into how it deals with the demand it faces, and showcase what services are available on the website. 

The public are encouraged to follow Wiltshire Police on social media and get involved with the campaign by using #ClickorCall.

More information on reporting crime can be found at https://www.wiltshire.police.uk/ro/report/