A new team of specialist police officers has been established in Inverness as part of the further development of call handling services for Police Scotland.
The new team will provide additional resilience to 101 and 999 services, bringing their enhanced local knowledge and experience of policing urban, remote and island communities to the national Contact Command and Control service.
Initially 25 police officers will be working as part of the Resolution Team to provide advice and resolve suitable enquiries from the public over the telephone, by face-to-face appointment (where appropriate in certain areas) or via video link.
This new approach means that every call via 999 or 101 goes through an enhanced assessment and provides officers and staff with a wider range of options available to offer help based on the needs and circumstances of the caller.
This could include immediate attendance at the incident or within a specified timeframe, an appointment with a police officer or assistance directly over the phone.
Assessing calls in this way also increases the ability to dispatch police officers to urgent incidents, which means getting to the people who need police assistance most, when they need it most.
It also provides additional resilience and enables Police Scotland to maximise its resources to ensure frontline policing is protected during the coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic.
The Resolution Team will join the previously established National Database Enquiry Unit in refurbished offices in Inverness and the further development of these services are expected in the future.
Police Scotland remains committed to decentralising its workforce and ensuring national resources are distributed around the country.
The establishment of the Inverness Resolution Team is a major investment in services in the north and a significant milestone in the ongoing development of call handling services for Scotland, now that a national infrastructure is in place.
Divisional Commander for the Highlands and Islands, Chief Superintendent Conrad Trickett, stated:
“Members of the public will still contact Police Scotland via 999, 101 or at their local police office however our trained officers and staff, who are the first point of contact, will make an enhanced assessment of threat, harm, risk and vulnerability to ensure the matter is correctly prioritised.
“The ability to conduct this enhanced assessment of vulnerability on every call and provide increased resolution options allows us to provide the right response to every caller.”
There is no change to the way police services are accessed – the public should continue to phone 999 in an emergency or 101 for non-emergency calls.
You can also use our Contact Us form to get in touch with Police Scotland for issues of a non-serious nature.
