Proteus Enterprise empowers communication of UK police force

By Enterprise Innovation Editors | Oct 21, 2010

Avon and Somerset Constabulary has recently installed its Proteus Enterprise call accounting solution to manage its call network.

The Client
The Avon and Somerset Constabulary was formed in April 1974 as an amalgamation of the former Bristol Constabulary, Somerset and Bath Constabulary and the Staple Hill division of Gloucestershire Constabulary.

It is one of the largest forces in England and Wales, responsible for policing a population of almost 1.5 million people covering 1,855 square miles that takes in virtually every kind of landscape including city centres, wild moors, dense forests, holiday resorts and vast commercial and industrial complexes. The Constabulary handles around one million phone calls per year to its published numbers, not including 999 emergency calls.

The Challenge
As a police constabulary, Avon and Somerset required a call accounting system that would help meets its legal requirements, such as providing the Home Office with call handling statistics and information. Included within these statistics is data that reports on how well the constabulary performs against its service level agreements on responding to 999 calls.

In addition to meeting its legal and regulatory requirements, the force needed a call management solution that would satisfy a further two requirements. The first issue was to highlight any fraudulent activity that was occurring on the constabulary’s network and, if it was, that it was reported immediately. Telecoms fraud is a serious consideration for organisations of any size or form. In 2008 alone, it is estimated that telephony fraud cost UK businesses around £1.3bn. Without a robust call management system, it is not until an organisation receives its monthly bill that the fraudulent activity would be highlighted.

The second issue that the Constabulary required was to identify any ‘potential bottlenecks’ on the network. The force made the decision to reduce the number of published inbound numbers from six to a single call profile and, as with any significant change such as this, they needed to monitor it on an ongoing basis to highlight any problems that may arise. By routing all inbound calls through one number, the Constabulary’s contact centre could also potentially receive a higher volume and different types of calls. As a result, it was vital that the call accounting solution generated regular call traffic reports that would allow the police to manage staffing resource levels to ensure the public’s perception of how the police were responding to calls remained positive.