Police go back to local control

The move will mean jobs will be lost. They form part of West Yorkshire Police’s overall package of cuts that are expected to see 212 officers and 448 support staff leave the force by March 2012, with 427 vacant posts remaining unfilled.

The force is facing an £87m budget black hole.

Currently West Yorkshire Police operate from three main control centres – a call-handling centre at Wakefield, which receives the calls, and two dispatch centres, one covering the eastern and one the western side of the county.

But the Wakefield and Bradford South divisions will now have their own control rooms to dispatch local officers to incidents in the areas, with the rest of the force following suit this year. The call-handling centre will be retained but the eastern and western area dispatch centres in Bradford and Leeds will eventually close.

Chief Inspector Mick Hanks, of the communications division, said the changes were a response to community feedback.

“This is all about local accountability, and improved front line service,” he said. “Feedback from our communities contacting the force tells us that they want to know their call will be dealt with by someone who knows and works in their patch and understands their local issues.”

A locally based control room has been running in the Bradford South division for a year as a pilot scheme.

“The speed with which the division has been able to get local officers to local incidents has improved considerably during the pilot, which is helping to improve the confidence and satisfaction of local communities,” said Ch Insp Hanks.

Control rooms will go live at City and Holbeck, North East Leeds and North West Leeds as part of the first phase of the roll out. The Calderdale, Kirklees and Airedale and North Bradford divisions will follow.