How would you like to contact police?

Image: @mistergrist

It seems like a ludicrous question to us – but Cheshire Constabulary are asking residents to give their views on how they can make better use of technology “to continue to provide the best possible service to the public”.

As there are an awful lot of people out there – elderly and vulnerable – who don’t have access to tech or social media, it appears to us to be pretty obvious that the answer should be by telephone or in person.

Unfortunately for them the survey is an online one – so anyone without a computer can’t respond.

It shouldn’t take a Sherlock to realise that all those who respond to the online survey will have a computer or access to one – so it’s pretty likely that they will respond accordingly – which won’t help the residents who may be most needy of support and protection – i.e. those without computers!

Can we suggest to the numpties who dream these things up that the good old telephone – which we’d guess the majority have access too – or a personal visit – would continue to be the safest option. Or is that too difficult?

The Police and Crime Commissioner has been bleating on about funding issues for some time and has just secured an increase to the police precept – which is going to increase everyone’s council tax bills. If Cheshire Police are so short of funds why continue to pursue these inane surveys? We’ve got a novel idea: how about pursuing a crime fighting agenda?

The following text comes from their media release which we reproduce in its entirety:

The Constabulary has launched an online Public Contact Survey to find out how the Cheshire public use technology and how people want to engage with police in an ever-changing digital world.

The survey should take no longer than five-minutes to complete and asks questions around how you like to keep in contact with people in general and how you would like to be able to contact police in a non-emergency.

The Constabulary’s options for contacting police in a non-emergency are currently by dialling 101 (the police non-emergency number), visiting an enquiry desk at a local police station, speaking to an officer in person at a local police surgery or contacting a named officer via the Cheshire Police website.

Acting Assistant Chief Constable Ngaire Waine said: “We are all now living in a world where we are rapidly becoming more and more reliant on technology and having to adapt to the many daily tasks we do. As we let more technology into our lives, it is changing the way we keep in touch with each other and the way we access our goods and services.

“With this in mind, we’re keen to hear from as many Cheshire residents as possible to find out how they are now using new technology and whether they would like us to make it more available for accessing police services.

“The information will be used to help shape and improve how our residents can access police services in non-emergencies situations in the future, and how we can improve our contact with them.

“It is important to point out that the results of this survey will in in no way effect our 999 service and people should always dial 999 where there is a threat to life or a crime is in progress.”

The Public Contact Survey can be accessed online via the link below or by visiting the Cheshire Constabulary website.

The deadline for completing the survey is Wednesday, 20 March 2019.