New ways to contact your local BiB
Discussion
Been reading about the new initiative to allow mobile phone number & email address of your local bobby (do i actually have one??) to be available to the general public.
What I'm wondering is if I see someone acting suspiciously and email the details to my local bib - is he/she likely to be glad I've contacted them, or unhappy because of the extra work I've just caused them!?
I think most of us see things from time to time that we wonder whether we should report it. I have tried on numerous occasions to report things using the 0845 number (instead of 999) - but no-one ever answers the phone!
So what do our resident bib think about us being able to email our beat bobby? Will it mean overload for the bib (as we all know email is much easier than actually picking up the phone) or will it actually be useful for getting intel that you've not had before?
What I'm wondering is if I see someone acting suspiciously and email the details to my local bib - is he/she likely to be glad I've contacted them, or unhappy because of the extra work I've just caused them!?
I think most of us see things from time to time that we wonder whether we should report it. I have tried on numerous occasions to report things using the 0845 number (instead of 999) - but no-one ever answers the phone!
So what do our resident bib think about us being able to email our beat bobby? Will it mean overload for the bib (as we all know email is much easier than actually picking up the phone) or will it actually be useful for getting intel that you've not had before?
msl:
In essence it is a good idea.
However!
1. If the local beat officer has his phone number put in the local paper, he will spend most of his/her working day answering the phone and listening to messeages from the previous 3 days he/she was off duty.
2. There will be loads of nuisance calls from those who have a tendancy to dislike the police service.
3. There will be no record of jobs phoned into the beat officer other than the phone memory and no real check to manage the quality of response to those calls as there is through a central computerised logging system.
In all it is a practical nightmare.
In my force, we are given job phones. Occasionally, when dealing with specific jobs with protracted or sensitive enquiries, witnesses and victims are given the direct line of that mobile which is very useful for both parties.
A general listing of individual officers numbers will not work beacuse of the reasons above.
However!
1. If the local beat officer has his phone number put in the local paper, he will spend most of his/her working day answering the phone and listening to messeages from the previous 3 days he/she was off duty.
2. There will be loads of nuisance calls from those who have a tendancy to dislike the police service.
3. There will be no record of jobs phoned into the beat officer other than the phone memory and no real check to manage the quality of response to those calls as there is through a central computerised logging system.
In all it is a practical nightmare.
In my force, we are given job phones. Occasionally, when dealing with specific jobs with protracted or sensitive enquiries, witnesses and victims are given the direct line of that mobile which is very useful for both parties.
A general listing of individual officers numbers will not work beacuse of the reasons above.
gone said:
In essence it is a good idea.
However!
1. If the local beat officer has his phone number put in the local paper, he will spend most of his/her working day answering the phone and listening to messeages from the previous 3 days he/she was off duty.
2. There will be loads of nuisance calls from those who have a tendancy to dislike the police service.
3. There will be no record of jobs phoned into the beat officer other than the phone memory and no real check to manage the quality of response to those calls as there is through a central computerised logging system.
In all it is a practical nightmare.
In my force, we are given job phones. Occasionally, when dealing with specific jobs with protracted or sensitive enquiries, witnesses and victims are given the direct line of that mobile which is very useful for both parties.
A general listing of individual officers numbers will not work beacuse of the reasons above.
It's an absolutely brilliant way of pretending that the "local bobby" is around *without* actually doing anything useful though .....
I would think that it is incumbent upon the Police in this scenario to provide (i) a phone (ii) an email system to this "local bobby" ; I would suggest that it's possibly illegal to publicise someone's contact details without their consent.
Let's be honest ; it's laughable PR drivel.
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