Every call from a member of the public to Lothian and Borders Police is important.  However, the number of telephone calls seeking some kind of police response has been increasing year-on-year. Like on-call doctors or ambulances, we have to prioritise calls so that our limited resources get to critical incidents rapidly and are not delayed by less serious matters.

The fact is we receive an average of 350 emergency '999' calls every day. These are our highest priority and we aim to answer them within 10 seconds and get to an emergency incident immediately.  However, we also receive in the region of 1800-2300 non-emergency calls every day (nearly one million every year). The challenge for our operators is to sort through all of these and match our response to the nature of the call, whether that call is about an on-going knife attack or an enquiry about road closures.

It is a huge task to respond to the unknown time after time, often under extreme pressure, with speed, sensitivity and wisdom.  Our staff handle matters of varying gravity and human significance - very little of which can be predicted in advance.

To do this we operate a call grading protocol, designed to deliver the most appropriate response with the resources available.

Our staff assess the information provided by the caller and define the grade to be allocated. Sometimes that means immediately sending police officers to deal with an incident taking place. On other occasions, when an immediate presence would make no difference, we will either allocate officers to attend according to established criteria or deal with the matter entirely over the phone if that is appropriate and convenient to the caller. In doing the latter, experienced staff will either have the expertise to deal with the call themselves or will be able to put the caller in touch with a person with knowledge relevant to the inquiry.

Police call grading simply mirrors what happens with other services we all receive. When you attend at an Accident and Emergency Department with a less serious complaint you expect to be given a lower priority than someone having a heart attack. When you report a leaking tap to your plumber you will understand if he’s delayed because someone else has just been flooded.

It is worth pointing out that recent figures showed that just one in five calls received by Lothian and Borders Police was actually related to crime.  Seen in this context, there is a vital need to grade calls and prioritise them in a structured manner.  We believe the public expect us to set priorities and to be realistic both about meeting expectations and recognising our limitations.

The following gradings are applied based on information from the caller:

Grade 1 (Emergency) - calls that require immediate attendance regardless of other matters.
For example ‘999’ and other calls which indicate serious and immediate threat to life, personal safety or property, resulting from an ongoing/imminent serious crime or road accidents where someone has been injured.

Grade 2 (High Priority) - Calls that require immediate attendance, but where commitments to Grade 1 and existing Grade 2 calls mean it is not possible to attend immediately.
For example a less serious crime being committed where there is not an immediate threat to life or personal safety

Grade 3 (Standard Priority) - Calls that will be attended as soon as possible with due regard to Grade 1 and 2 call demand.
An example would be where a crime is no longer in progress and there is no longer a serious and immediate threat to life, personal safety or property.

Grade 4 (Discretionary Priority) - Calls that may be resolved by telephone reporting or attended by officers at a time mutually convenient to both the caller and police.
An example would be where incidents are no longer in progress and where the enquiry would not be affected by non-attendance or attendance at a later time by the police.

Grade 5 (Resolution without Deployment) - Calls that can be resolved by the person taking the call or by referral to another appropriate agency providing advice, or by taking a report over the telephone, or by advising the caller that the best course is to go to a police station to progress the matter face to face with a member of police staff. Police will not attend.

REMEMBER: Our staff are highly trained, many of them with long experience of receiving calls from the public. They can often resolve matters by dealing with them there and then, or by referring them to the most appropriate agency.