Reporting a crime - What happens next?
We are celebrating International Control Room Week by giving the public a glimpse into the way our Demand Hub operates.
It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is often the first point of contact for many members of the public.
Because of this, we experience a very high demand for our services, whether that be 999 calls, 101 calls, live webchats or online reports. In fact, so far this year we have received over 419,000 calls and 32,000 web chats.
So if you have ever contacted us to report a crime and have wondered what’s happening behind the scenes, we’re going to break it down for you.
Enjoy an insight into our Demand Hub for #ControlRoomWeek
When you dial 999 in an emergency, your call will be answered by a BT operator who will ask which service you require: police, fire or ambulance.
If you choose police, BT will direct your call to our Demand Hub based at Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s Force Headquarters in Huntingdon, and one of our Call Handlers will promptly answer your call.
The Call Handler will take your details, information about what’s happened and will find out your location. They will decide if we are the right agency for your call, and if not (or if it’s not deemed to be an emergency), you will be redirected to the relevant agency. If it is deemed to be an emergency, the operator will assess the call and give it a ‘grading’ which will determine the priority of your call and how quickly officers need to attend.
From there, a Dispatcher will review and assess the incident and deploy the appropriate police resource, working with the Call Handler to ensure officers and members of the public will be safe.
999 should only be used in serious emergencies. If you dial 999 in a non-emergency, you will be redirected to report online or dial 101.
Calling 101 to report non-emergencies is slightly different. Your call will initially be answered by a switchboard operator, who will ask you some questions to provide you with the most suitable help / department.
If they deem your call to be an emergency, they will transfer you through to 999. For everything else, they will triage your call based on the information you have provided, putting you through to the relevant department.
If you go through to the Public line, it is likely that the operator will raise an incident so that officers can attend and take your report in person or arrange an appointment for you to attend one of our Police Stations.
And if you go through to the crime line, an operator will spend some time on the phone with you, getting all the relevant information so they can raise the crime(s) with you whilst on the phone.
If a crime is raised as a result of your call, what happens next is outlined below in the ‘Reporting a crime’ section.
Remember: 101 is for non-emergencies only. We receive an average of over 800 calls to 101 every day, explaining why there is often a queue of people waiting to talk to an operator on 101. If you want to skip the queues, you can report non-emergencies by submitting your report online via our website or by speaking to an operator on live web chat. It is the same people who deal with online reports, web chat and 101 calls, and they follow the exact same process for all reporting methods – the only thing that sets them apart is the technology used to contact us!
After you have reported a crime to us (via an online report, web chat 999 or 101), it will be reviewed by the IMU (The Investigations Management Unit) who will ensure you have provided all the relevant information, and decide whether to investigate further or close the report.
A report may have to be filed due to a number of reasons including insufficient evidence or lack of suspects.
However, if a further investigation is required, the report will now be sent to the policing area most relevant to the case. A sergeant will be assigned the case at this stage, and an officer will now make contact with the individual who reported the crime to update them on what’s going to happen in the investigation.
The investigation may include reviewing CCTV, assessing forensic evidence, talking to witnesses, linking with similar cases and offences etc, which is why an investigation can take time.
You will then be advised by the officer the outcome of the investigation.
Every crime is different, and therefore the time it will take to investigate will differ depending on the circumstances.