POLICE, FIRE AND SAFETY COMMITTEE
Date 25th November 2010
Agenda Item No. 23
Fife Constabulary
Call Grading Policy and Managed Call Appointment
System
Report by: Chief Constable
Wards Affected: All
Purpose
This report is intended to provide members with an overview of recent
changes to the Force Call Grading Policy and the introduction of a
Managed Call Appointment System to provide direct service to
communities.
Recommendation(s)
Members are invited to note the update.
Resource Implications
N/A
Legal & Risk Implications
There are no direct legal/risk implications arising from this report.
Policy & Impact Assessment
N/A
Consultation
N/A
1.0 Introduction
1.1
Fife Constabulary operates a call grading structure in order to
effectively prioritise calls for service and ensure an appropriate level of
response.
1.2
Prior to 15 September 2010, emergency calls were graded for
immediate response with a distinction being made between those in
urban areas, which had a ten minute response time (Grade 1) and
those in rural areas which had a target attendance time of twenty
minutes (Grade 2).
1.3
Routine calls throughout Fife, where the calls did not necessitate an
emergency response had a two-hour attendance target (Grade 3). The
two hour attendance criteria for Grade 3 calls was articulated to callers
who then had an expectation of police attendance within this timescale.
Grade 3 calls represent 60% of all calls received due to this demand
the attendance time was found to be unrealistic and meant that the
Force found it difficult to meet this expectation and this regularly led to
calls not being met on time and being deferred due to the volume
received. This resulted in repeat calls back to the Force Contact Centre
(FCC) from members of the public enquiring as to when police would
attend. This clearly, did not meet the needs of the service users, led to
dissatisfaction and placed an unnecessary demand on the FCC in
respect of the additional telephone calls.
2.0
New Call Grading Policy
2.1
A Best Value Review of the FCC was conducted in early 2010 and one
of the recommendations was that the call grading policy be changed to
mirror national standards. This followed recommendations from HMICS
and Audit Scotland for a common grading policy across forces to
enable like-for-like measurement of police response performance.
2.2
Following agreement reached through a National Working Group, on
15 September 2010 Fife Constabulary adopted the following call
grading model, which ensures a national standard and alignment with
other Scottish Police Forces.
Grade 1 – Emergency Response
Immediate or potential threat to life/serious crime/incident in progress
or incident deemed by FCC personnel to merit an emergency response
Officers should attend as soon as possible, using lights and sirens to
assist
Grade 2 – Priority Response
Crime/incident where there is a degree of importance or urgency
associated but police emergency response is not required
Officers should attend as soon as possible but must not exceed the
speed limit or use lights or sirens
Grade 3 – Standard Response
Crimes/incidents of a type where a police attendance is required and
the outcome could be prejudiced by significant delay. In any case
police will attend within 24 hrs. This is strictly monitored and the
average attendance time since the implementation of this grading is 2
hours 8 minutes.
Grade 4 – Scheduled Response
Crimes/incidents that will not be prejudiced by a scheduled response –
appointments are made via the Managed Call Appointment System
(MCAS). Appointments are made within 48 hours or at another time
suitable to the caller. See Section 3 below
Grade 5 – Resolved Without Attendance
Non-attendance/resolution without deployment of a police resource that
adequately meets the needs of the caller or a referral to another
agency. Calls can be addressed over the telephone without officer
attendance.
3.0 Managed Call Appointment System (MCAS )
3.1
Prior to the implementation of the Managed Call Appointment System
(MCAS), lower priority calls were, on occasion not attended to within
the timescales indicated. This was due to the timescales being
unrealistic and the demand placed on officers to attend higher priority
calls that took precedence. This had an effect on service delivery and
customer satisfaction.
3.2
Following a successful pilot in Levenmouth the MCAS diary
appointment system was adopted for low priority calls throughout Fife
during October 2010.
3.3
Diary appointments are now made with the caller in respect of Grade 4
calls, for the police to attend at a time suitable to them and officers
attend at the allotted time. Each appointment has 90 minutes allotted
which allows meaningful engagement and appropriate enquiry into the
crime or complaint to be conducted.
3.4
Through this channelled approach to routine and priority calls Fife
Constabulary has the stated intention of meeting every single
appointment at the original agreed time (unless the caller changes the
appointment) without fail, resulting in:



3.5
improved service delivery and subsequent customer satisfaction
improved demand management
release of response staff to manage high priority calls
Initial evaluation of the change to call grading and the roll out of MCAS
is extremely positive. Response times for calls have improved and
callers have taken up the majority of appointment slots. In the first
month Fife Constabulary have kept every appointment made.
3.6
A full evaluation and customer satisfaction survey will be conducted six
months post implementation.
4.0 Recommendation
4.1
Members are invited to recognise the change to the Call Grading
Structure and the implementation of the Managed Call Appointment
System to further improve service delivery and customer satisfaction.
Report Contact
Superintendent Dougie Milton
Specialist Services Division, Fife Constabulary
Police Headquarters, Glenrothes
Telephone: 01592 411981
Email: dougie.milton@fife.pnn.police.uk