Policing Peterborough: Freeing up frontline officers’ time

To cope with these challenges, we need to anticipate future trends, innovate our practices, and collaborate with other agencies and communities.

I am going to talk to you about two initiatives Cambridgeshire Police have introduced that aim to free up frontline officers’ time to focus on the things you expect us to be doing – preventing and detecting crime.

We are facing increasing demand for our services, especially for mental health incidents. According to His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMRCFRS), police officers spend at least 20 percent of their time dealing with mental health issues, which often involve no crime or safety risk. This diverts resources away from other priorities and puts pressure on our frontline officers.

To address this challenge, a new approach called Right Care Right Person (RCRP) has been developed and endorsed by a national partnership agreement between the police, NHS, government, and other agencies.

RCRP aims to ensure people with mental health needs receive the most appropriate care and support from the most suitable agency, rather than relying on police as the default option.

With RCRP our call handlers assess the level of risk and urgency and look to refer callers to other agencies such as mental health crisis teams, social services or voluntary organisations when appropriate.

Another initiative we have introduced is the use of Rapid Video Response (RVR). RVR offers an immediate but optional video response service that connects the caller with a police officer via a video link. The caller can choose to receive RVR instead of waiting for a physical visit from an officer. Our aim with RVR is that the caller is transferred to a video call at the same time they first call the police, so, in effect, you could be reporting an issue directly to a police officer within minutes, rather than waiting hours for an available response officer to drive to you.

While we are still in the early stages of RVR we have invested in a team based within our Demand Hub and they have already dealt with more than 1,000 calls for service via either Rapid Video Response or a slower-time Video Response.

RVR also enables victims to receive a police response who would otherwise be physically unable to attend police stations, are worried about reprisals, don’t want a police car parked outside their home, or have limited availability.

RVR is not suitable for all cases and the eligibility criteria is assessed by the call handler and officer. If at any point we have concerns an officer will still be despatched.

The reality is that policing in 2023 is far more complex than ever before. We have to look at every option to create the capacity to allow us to spend more time focusing on the core work that not only you expect us to do, but that we also really want to be doing.