‘Diary cars’ aim to drive a better service in Durham

A special ‘beat’ is to be trialled by Durham Constabulary to give crime victims a better service – and save thousands of officer hours.

The three-month experiment, designed to streamline initial investigations into crime and incident reports, will be launched from next month (September) in Peterlee, Seaham and Darlington.

It could be rolled out to other areas by the turn of the year if it proves to be successful.

Assistant Chief Constable Michael Barton said: “The public don’t always want blue lights and screeching tyres. They want a service delivered in a calm and rational way without being made to feel second best.”

The cornerstone of the project will be the introduction of four unmarked ‘diary cars’ that will be directed by staff working in the force’s two communications centres. The introduction of a force-wide scheme would require three dozen officers and a fleet of 12 cars.

Each vehicle – single-crewed by plain-clothed core, beat or road policing unit officers on restricted or recuperative duties – will operate seven days a week between 8am and 10pm.

Mr Barton believes the investigation-by-appointment approach to non-urgent enquiries will dramatically reduce pressure on core officers and, at the same time, deliver major improvements to the public.

“What we are proposing is not rocket science or earth-shattering. We are listening to the public and looking to improve what we do and the way we do it in a way that will satisfy them,” he said.

An additional ‘mix-and-match’ opportunity giving the public the chance to talk face-to-face with an investigator will come from daily drop-in surgeries at Peterlee and Darlington. If successful, similar surgeries are likely to be introduced at Durham City and Bishop Auckland.

“Our response to immediate or priority calls will be unchanged. But, in less urgent situations, where callers are content to speak to an officer in slower time, it can be done by appointment or by calling in at a police station surgery.

“Communications staff allocating hourly time slots – that can be extended to two hours where necessary – takes the frustrations out of the system for both police officers and the public,” said Mr Barton.

“In the past, core officers might have been forced to leave a crime scene at short notice because they have been directed to a more urgent call or they’ve failed to turn up at an agreed time for the same reason. That’s unsatisfactory and time-wasting for everyone. Officers crewing ‘diary cars’ will be used for nothing else but keeping appointments at times that have been agreed with the victims.”

The recommendation to introduce the ‘diary cars’ came, he said, from members of the force’s demand management project team in the wake of some independent research.

“They came up with the innovative idea of utilising the experience of officers on recuperative or restricted duties to minimise the impact on frontline teams,” he added.

It has been estimated that a force-wide appointments scheme could deal with more than half of the 70,000 ‘scheduled jobs’ allocated annually.