Peterborough's new top cop vows to improve police response to public's emergency calls

Superintendent Olly Warsop (43) who has just been named as the new North Area Commander with responsibility for policing across Peterborough and Fenland, says the quality of the force’s first point of contact with the public is key to delivering policing across a diverse area.

Mr Warsop, based at Thorpe Wood Police Station in Peterborough, said: "It is important we focus on the basics. When people phone 999 they want the police to come as quickly as they can but that can be slightly more complicated than it looks.

“But that is the public’s expectation and it is a fair one.

He said: “More resources are going into that first contact between the public and the police.

"Some changes are being implemented next month and it is around officers on patrol being available to go to the 999 calls.

"But some calls and online contacts are from people reporting things that are non urgent but they would still like us to come and have a look.

"I think there is a little bit more work for us to do to make sure that we can be slightly more responsive, hence why we are trying to optimise resources we’ve got to be on the end of the phone when somebody calls 999.

I think we have made some positive strikes there but there is more for us to do in terms of how responsive we are.

“If somebody calls 999 and it’s an emergency or it’s something we need to get to fairly shortly to look after somebody, there is a bit more we could do hence the reframing of some resources maybe to make some of those teams a little larger.

Mr Warsop said: “What is really important to me is how we deliver policing and that we provide a really good service to the public.

"It is important that we are responsive when the public calls us and that we get to them in a suitable period of time to help them with the problem they have identified and at what is probably a really difficult time for someone who has called the police.

He said: “And then we have to do a really thorough job of making sure we deal effectively with the crimes the victims report to us and that, from the victim’s perspective, we have done a good job.”

Mr Warsop, who has spent 20 years in the police, including time with the Armed Policing Unit, where he was promoted to sergeant and then inspector, said: “It will be interesting to see over the summer to see how those changes have an impact.

He said: “The summer historically can be a busier time for the police, things like anti-social behaviour can rise.

"We are already moving some resources around looking at how we strengthen that before we get to the summer this year to try and get ahead of what often happens.

“I’m hopeful that it will have a positive impact and give people a better public service from the police.”

In his new role, Mr Warsop has responsibility for a force of about 400 officers backed up by a range of cross-force specialist teams covering roads, dogs teams and major crime teams.

Mr Warsop said: “Obviously I would always welcome more resources.

"But we have to do the best with the resources available.

"And it does mean we have to balance a range of priorities.

He added: “There is lots of demand for the police and policing is more complicated now than ever before and we sometimes have to prioritise what we are going to have to go to now and what we’re not.”

He said that policing in such a diverse area, which includes the growing city of Peterborough to the rural areas through Fenland to borders with Lincolnshire, Northants and Norfolk, brought its own challenges.

But he said it was important for police to recognise that the issues raised were always important to the victim.

He said: “It can be difficult to keep focused on such a broad area of challenges.

“Violent crime, knife crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour might be more prevalent in the city than in rural areas.

He said: “It is about recognising that we have to prioritise but I still have to listen to the community.

"Just because an issue in Fenland might present with less risk or less harm does not make it less important for the community in Fenland.

“We do have to make those difficult decisions about what resources can go in each place but it is getting a balance between the communities.”