PSNI pilots new ‘virtual officer’ online service for victims
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is piloting a new video-call service that will be offered to victims of crime as an alternative to telephone resolution or in-person attendance.
Launched on Wednesday (April 23) the ‘Virtual Officer Attendance’ service will be available to victims of crime where there is no immediate threat, risk or harm that requires officers to attend in-person.
Instead, officers will be able to conduct inquiries and take statements during the video call. Victims will also be able to provide digital evidence such as videos, photographs or screenshots via a platform titled Box or via GoodSAM, the system used to support the roll-out of the Virtual Officer Attendance service.
The four-week pilot will give victims further choice in how they interact with police and if the victim prefers to see an officer in-person, they will still have this option made available to them.
“To choose this service, a victim must be over the age of 18. If aged 17 or under, victims can still use the service but they will also have to have an appropriate adult present,” said the PSNI.
“The victim must have use of a smartphone or device with video and 4G or wi-fi capability, and the offender cannot be present. Virtual Officer Attendance won’t use the victim’s internet data allowance so it won’t cost them anything at all.”
To conduct the pilot process, a ‘Virtual Officer Attendance Hub’ has been set up in Castlereagh police station, with a team of three sergeants and 16 constables from across the country, who have all received in-depth training on how the new process will be implemented.
Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson of local policing commented: “Our Virtual Officer Attendance pilot is yet another example of working closely with our Information and Communications Services (ICS) department to utilise technology more to offer a wider range of ways to connect with victims of crime and the community that we serve.
“In a modern world, these options can be far more suitable for members of the public to access, as well as reducing demand on our frontline officers, allowing them to focus on other time-sensitive matters.
“Whilst aiming to improve the service we provide as an organisation to the public, this enhanced service in turn should also provide cost savings to our organisation, making us more responsive to our community needs. One simple example is rather than a police vehicle arriving at a victim’s house holding a minimum of two officers, just one officer will be needed for the Virtual Officer Attendance option with no travel time, petrol expense or other colleagues required.
“To enable this service to be available to the PSNI, the project group involved within our ICS department, have worked closely with our colleagues from Dorset Police, who themselves brought the service in, back in 2023.
“The system has worked very well in Dorset with victim satisfaction jumping from 31 per cent to 74 per cent in the first year, and 89 per cent of those who requested the system off the back of a call said that they would highly recommend it to others.
“Once the four week pilot concludes, the Virtual Officer Attendance option will still continue. The pilot will serve to provide the project group with findings that will be reviewed with a view to the system being brought into the organisation permanently.”