Wednesday 29 January 2014

Ten Minutes

The Local Policing Model: is it working?

After discussions with LPM colleagues I understand the following: the key to the LPM is that since Sir Bernard closed most of the front counters the officers have to go out to people's homes. People can't report at stations, but have to phone up and request an appointment. These are put into a daily diary - one slot per hour.

It's 9.30am and an old lady, who was burgled the day before, finally gets a visit. She's sobbing her heart out in front of the officer, who is trying to ignore the Control Room calling him:

"Are you aware of your ten o'clock appointment? Hello? Hello? Are you aware of your ten o'clock?"

The Control Room then calls the officer's sergeant, who asks the officer to explain why he ignored his radio. Within the hour allocated to each appointment, the officer must travel to the victim from the previous appointment, or police station, take details and give victim care. The regulations dictate that the officer must then record that crime asap, therefore she goes back to the station to create the crime report. The officer is not allowed to accumulate reports during the day to save travelling time. If the officer is late for any appointments he is threatened with disciplinary action, however - it is inevitable that appointments are late or missed. Strangely, even if the officer is early for an appointment that also counts as one missed

Taking into account travelling time, each person gets about ten minutes of the officer's time.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks very much for your comment. I would love to reply but the security I use against the Met Police bloodhounds prevents me replying to comments at present. When it becomes possible I will reply to you. Please be patient.

Thanks,
- Justice and Chaos