7.2
Good communication between the public and criminal justice agencies is essential if•
codify the criminal law, bringing it together into accessible documents which will beavailable via the internet;
•
emphasise the importance of jury service as part of citizenship, ensuring that juries better reflect all sections of society by reducing the number of people who are exempted from jury service and improving the practical support provided to jurors;•
continue to implement the findings of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, in order to reduce racism in the CJS, increase diversity and build the confidence of all sections of the community;•
introduce more restorative justice schemes, and extend the use of Referral Orders;•
make courts more accessible, including reviewing court dress and exploring whether there are appropriate alternatives to the formal court room for hearing some cases;•
improve channels of communication between criminal justice agencies and the public, through better use of technology and clear standards of customer service;•
implement a national strategy to raise the profile of the magistracy and encourage more people to apply from as wide a cross section of the community as possible; and•
help reduce disorder in communities by extending police powers to deal with raves which trespass on property and introducing eviction powers for the police in regard to traveller communities under specific conditions, alongside the provision of suitable sites.We propose to:
7.3
Police forces have a particularly important role to play. Members of the public have contact with the police for a host of reasons: as victims or witnesses of crime; as volunteers in community policing and crime prevention; in dispute settlement initiatives; or in asking for advice. For many, this will be their only experience of the CJS. If members of the public are confident that they will be treated with consideration and receive an appropriate response when they do contact the police, they are more likely to do so.7.4
Communication between the public and the police is currently hampered for a number of reasons. Many individuals feel that the 999 emergency number is the only point of contact they have with the system and demand for the service is rising, but a large proportion of calls are not emergencies. Generally, people do not want to tie up the emergency number, but are not always clear about what warrants use of it.7.5
To improve communication, we propose to introduce a single non-emergency number for the police service. The feasibility study on a dedicated non-emergency number, announced in the December 2001 White Paper Policing a New Century,3revealed agreat diversity in the quality of call handling across forces. Most notably, the standard of service that the public receives when calling the police on non-emergency calls was variable. We are currently working with police forces on a pilot that will map the technology and business processes required to get the non-emergency number right. We want the public to be confident that when they call the non-emergency number they will receive the same standard of service regardless of where they live.
7.6
More generally, the HMIC (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary) Thematic Inspection report Open All Hours identified wide variations in the quality of customer service that members of the public receive from the police, depending not only on where they live, but sometimes on which individual they are dealing with.4We want to ensure a greaterconsistency in standards of customer care, including communication, by disseminating the good practice that exists in some forces so that all can reach the level of the best.
7.7
As a first step we intend to work with partners to develop and agree clear standards for the quality of service that is provided to the public, from the time that they make initial contact with the police onwards. Further work will determine the priorities, but they are likely to focus on:•
how initial calls are dealt with;•
victim and witness care;•
the provision of information to the public; and7.8
Open All Hours identified much innovative work within forces to improve the ease with which police services are accessed by the public. Building on this, best practice guidance will be developed for forces. Nationally, the Police Information Technology Organisation is looking at ways to boost the use of the police portal, the national website which helps people contact local forces, and a strategy is being developed to enable police forces to meet our aim of greater electronic delivery of public services.7.9
We are also working to develop stronger local mechanisms of accountability and customer feedback to enable police forces to better understand and respond to community needs.7.10
To complement this work by the police, we want to ensure that other servicesin the CJS develop better channels of communication with the public. The delays that sometimes occur in the progress of cases contribute to the sense that individuals and communities are ‘left in the dark’ about cases that concern them. It is often the police who have contact with communities through regular consultation meetings or through contacts established in the wake of notorious cases. We want all services in the CJS to be aware of community views and consider whether or how they can inform communities in appropriate ways. We will also ensure that local people receive better information about their local criminal justice agencies, through the regular publication of performance indicators for police forces, the Probation Service and courts.