28 September 2007
Police forces are unable to show whether new systems of managing telephone calls from the public are delivering the intended benefits or providing value for money, Audit Scotland has found.
Its report, Police call management: an initial review, is the first in-depth study of how police forces in Scotland are coping with the new centralised systems.
The number of calls has risen enormously over the past decade with the rise in mobile phone ownership. In 2006/07, the eight police forces received 5.8 million calls from the public — 15,900 a day — and spent £45m managing them.
According to the study, there was no national strategy when the new systems were established, so police forces now have a range of different structures and systems.
Auditor general Bob Black said: 'It is concerning that each police force has developed its own way of recording the number and types of calls.' This made it impossible for the Scottish government and the police authorities to scrutinise the performance of the systems to assess their benefits and value for money.
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