North Yorkshire Police Might Say "No" to Some Calls for Assistance

Friday, 9 December 2022 06:00

By Matthew Pells

North Yorkshire Police says it is going to take a more robust approach to some calls for assistance.

The force is introducing a "Right Care Right Person" policy from January which means it might refuse to attend some calls for assistance if it's outside their core responsibilities.

Deputy Chief Constable - Mabs Hussain - says initially they will be focusing on calls from health professionals.

The force control room is continuing to deal with increasing numbers of calls and the force says in some instances the police are not the right people to respond.

Assistant Chief Constable Mike Walker says the first phase of the project will focus on health related calls.

Superintendent Fiona Willey, Customer Contact lead in the Force Control Room, says the control room does deal with a significant number of calls relating to health matters, the North Yorkshire Force has been holding workshops with partner organisations in the health field to highlight some of the problems.

Fiona says that in many situations the individual involved in a situation would be better served by someone other than a Police Officer.

Assistant Chief Constable Mike Walker says the new policy will be rolled out from January and will require additional training and support for control room staff who by their nature are keen to help people.

Humberside Police are already using the Right Care Right Person approach and have reported that more than 1,000 officer hours per month have been reallocated to core tasks as a result of the programme.