Crime Reporting

Crime reporting Awareness

What happens when you report a crime or suspicious incident?

Policing is complex and different teams work together in order to record the crime you have reported and action it appropriately.

When you call 999, 101 or use the Live Chat facility you are talking to ‘Call Handlers’ in the Force Control Room (FCR). They are not Police Officers, they are police civilian staff and it is their job to answer calls and enquiries and record the relevant details on to a police system.

Each call/enquiry is then prioritised and a ‘Dispatcher’ will assess the urgency of a call and deploy appropriate resources (for example, police officers or PCSOs) to deal with the incident. Not all calls require an immediate police response and they may be filed for the ‘Investigation Management Unit’ to assess and decide on further action.

Once police officers are deployed to a call, the Force Control Room staff will speak to them on route via police radio to relay information about the call, for example, location, information about the people involved and any potential threats to be aware of. They can also answer any questions the police officers have. The officers then attend, deal with the incident appropriately and complete the necessary paperwork for the incident to be recorded and filed, or investigated further if necessary.

You may think that an incident you have witnessed or experienced isn’t serious enough to report, or that you don’t have enough evidence to support your suspicions, however the information may still be important. Each report allows the police to gather intelligence that may feed into a bigger picture, so just because you think a crime is low level or you’re not sure if what you are witnessing or experiencing is a crime, report it. You don’t need to be certain. Suspicion that a crime has or is taking place is enough reason to contact us. And please remember, just because you don’t see a physical police presence, it doesn’t mean the crime isn’t being dealt with and investigated