Triangulation in Data
Collection:
Police non-emergency
call-handling
THEORY AND METHOD IN EMPIRICAL DOCTORAL STUDIES IN LAW
UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM. 15.9.2017
DR ANDREW STAFFORD
Overview
The study: Background and overview Methodology: A triangulated approach
Making contact and call answering times Language used by call-handlers
Explaining response activity to callers
Lessons learned and continuing with this
The police and the public
The police rely on the ‘consent, assistance and
cooperation of the public’ in order to operate effectively (Jackson et al. 2013, p. 2).
People are more likely to cooperate with the
police when they have confidence and trust in the police, and perceive the police to be
legitimate.
Contact with the police influences public
Call-handling
The police in England and Wales receive 80
million calls a year for assistance from the general public (HMIC 2007)
‘[t]he majority of the public make their initial
contact with the police through the telephony system, and first impressions count’ (Povey 2001, p. 154).
Contacting the police to report a crime is the
Landscape at the time
So called ‘non-crime demand’ constitutes around four-fifths
of all calls for police service
Increased emphasis at the time on people contacting the
police concerning the things that matter to them locally.
Between March 2010 and September 2014, police officer
Aims of study
Qualitative exploratory examination of:
call handling and reporting process the content of calls to the police
what was recorded and how calls were responded
to
To identify:
What matters to callers
Determinants of satisfaction during contact with
the police
Overview of data
Examination of database of 800 calls, showing duration and
purpose
Transcripts of 70 non-emergency calls to the police
Interviews with the 70 members of the public who made
these calls
30 interviews with the police call-handlers who dealt with
some of these calls
20 interviews with the police officers who responded to
some of these calls
10 interviews with call centre supervisors and senior
managers in the Communications department
What could be examined/tested
because of the triangulated data
Ease of making contact
and influence of call answering times
Language and techniques
used by callers
Explaining response
activity to callers
Making contact and call
answering times
Making contact: perspectives of
call-handlers and supervisors
Studies have found callers to be dissatisfied
with the amount of time taken to answer their call the police (Singer 2004; Home Office 2008)
Call-handlers and supervisors at the
participating Constabulary explained that
callers would often have to wait for their calls to be answered.
‘We don’t reach performance targets [of
From the caller’s
perspective
Only four callers stated that they had a problem contacting
the police, with another four stating that they had been kept on hold or that the police had taken a long time to answer their call (n = 70).
The large majority of the sample noted that they found it
relatively simple to contact the police and did not report a noteworthy period of hold before or during their call.
Even the four callers who did recall a period of hold seemed
Call transcripts
suggested delays
Analysis of transcripts suggested delays in
answering times. For example:
Call-handler: Hope you’ve not been waiting too long?
Caller: Ages actually.
Call-handler: Oh dear.
Caller: But it was very nice of you to say that.
Other calls in this sample also began with some
form of apology or comment on the length of time that the caller had waited before their call was
Periods of hold/delays in
answering didn’t appear to
leave a lasting impression
When the caller on the previous slide was asked
whether they had experienced any problems trying to get through to the police, they
responded ‘no’, explaining that they were kept on hold for only a ‘minor time, not long at all’.
Although the call-handlers in these instances
appeared to consider that time spent waiting warranted an apology, callers did not find this period of wait particularly memorable or
Language used by
call-handlers
What is important to
people?
Tyler (2011, p. 258) argues that:
‘quality of treatment dominates people’s reactions to
personal encounters with the police’.
According to Skogan (2006, p. 104):
‘victims are less ‘outcome’-orientated than they are
Call-handling, language
and social skills
Waddington (1993) argues that empathy,
interest, consideration and rapport are the requirements for a caring police response.
Social skills are particularly important among
call-handlers (Frenkel et al. 1998, Thompson et al. 2001)
The way in which call-handlers communicate
Empathetic statements
‘It’s
horrible,
isn’t it?’
‘Let’s hope
this is the
last of it’
‘Oh that’s a
shame’
‘Oh no’
‘It’s very
unpleasant’
‘You can’t
help it from
Demonstrating empathy
and sympathy
Caller: I’d like to report the theft of two wooden sculptures from our front garden.
Call-handler: Oh, sorry to hear that … What value is it?
Caller: Um, £1200.
Call-handler: Oh dear.
Caller: Yes.
Call-handler: Oh right, very expensive isn’t it … Is it made of oak?
Caller: Yes, it’s all in one piece
Call-handler: Oh, sorry to hear this, it’s upsetting isn’t it.
Caller: It is, yes.
What did the caller say
about this call?
When this caller was asked about this
conversation, the caller stated that ‘[the call-handler] was just very helpful, she said “oh dear”, “that must be upsetting” or something like that, I mean she was sympathetic’.
These details were memorable and recalled
Establishing common
ground and rapport
A call-handler, when speaking to a caller who had
reported damage to his car previously to the police (and who was annoyed at having received no
updates about the investigation in to this), stated that:
‘I understand, it’s very frustrating, yes very frustrating,
as you say it’s a lot of problems, and you just want it sorted out, and … even if you can make a claim against insurance you still have to pay … I can totally
understand your frustration, this has been going on a long time and you obviously want ... it done and dusted and sorted to your satisfaction don’t you, and that’s
What did the caller say
about this call?
When asked about this, the caller explained
that the call-handler he spoke to:
‘was kind of on my side if you like, she was saying
“I think it’s a little bit naughty that they haven’t got back to you, you’d think that somebody would have rang you up and just spoke to you and put your mind at rest”.’
These details were memorable and recalled
What was most important and
memorable about the calls?
The empathy, understanding, interest,
sensitivity, politeness and willingness to engage in small talk displayed by call-handlers was
most memorable for callers.
Most helpful elements of calls often described
as call-handler tone of voice, sensitivity and language rather than a specific act of
Explaining response
activity to callers
Providing information to
the public
The provision of information on crime and police
activity has been shown to improve public opinion of the police (Chapman et al. 2002, Hohl et al. 2010, Quinton 2011, Barrett and Fletcher 2013).
Studies have highlighted the importance that
victims of crime place on the information that they receive from the police and on the quality and frequency of the updates they receive as a police investigation progresses (Coupe and
Non-emergency call-handling and
explaining police response activity
Call-handlers would usually provide information
on next steps
The Constabulary’s policy for responding to
non-emergency incidents was that every caller would receive either:
a phone call or visit from an officer or a letter from the constabulary
Honesty and accuracy were seen as paramount,
A response activity
statement
‘Obviously what will happen now is I’ve
recorded the crime and I’ll give you your crime number so you can give it to the insurance
Other response activity
statements
‘Now, um, I think I’ve got enough to start the
ball rolling with this … I’m not sure how far it will go, but it’s worth a try’.
‘Somebody from the local nick will be in touch
Challenge 1 - Other
evidence, events and
factors
Factors outside the information that
call-handlers record from callers can play a part in determining police response activity.
Further information can become available after
the initial phone call
The call might refer to one incident which could
Other evidence, events
and factors
An officer stated that: ‘I’ll explain to [callers] “well, actually
[a non-emergency call-handler is] not a police officer. They don’t know how to deal with this crime and they may have given you incorrect information”’.
According to a senior officer in the Constabulary’s
Communications department:
‘I think 12-15% [of the calls received by the non-emergency
call centre] a day are saying ‘where are you? I’ve called you, you said you were coming, you haven’t arrived’. Now some of that will be because something else has happened and we haven’t been able to get there, but some of that will be
because when somebody took the initial call, without being sighted on the full picture, they’ve said ‘oh yeah, this is
Challenge 2 - Variation in
response activity
Call-handlers were aware that there was
variation in how separate departments and local police teams within the constabulary responded to certain crimes.
Different districts prioritise different things,
spend budgets differently and deal with certain things in different ways.
Workload and availability will vary dramatically
Where it went right
(example from call to report theft
from motor vehicle)
Call-handler: I’ll let our CSI teams know. Normally they don’t tend to come out to theft from motor vehicles, but when offenders lever the doors out they manage to
sometimes leave fingerprints out on the rubber seals that you as the vehicle owner would never touch that
area of the car, so it’s possible that there could be something there. So I’ll let them know and if
they want to attend they’ll give you a call to
arrange that with yourself.
Caller : Would that be this afternoon?
Call-handler: Possibly, it does depend on what else is happening in
Where it went wrong
(example from call to report theft
from motor vehicle)
Call-handler: If you could just resist doing that for an hour or two,
because obviously CSI may want to come down and take finger prints of the stereo unit and the glove box, OK? If you could just try and resist doing that for a little while?
Caller: Yeah OK.
Call-handler: I’ll pass this on to my colleague and we’ll get them to give you a call back on your mobile.
Caller: Ok ... so they’re going to phone me are they?
Call-handler: Yeah, what they’ll do is they’ll probably pass this on to scenes of crime so they can obviously contact you to take
finger prints, it would be really helpful if we could get that
Lessons learned
Which areas of enquiry are most relevant and
why?
Who is best placed to provide information on
what?
Consistency in language and questioning
Organising and coding data – consistent and
Triangulation in current
projects
Benefits and value of community-led crime
prevention
Examining approaches to tackling crime and
associated disorder in the night-time economy
Crime reporting through social media and
