Police News May - New Zealand Police Association

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May 2004 Police News The Voice of PoliceCommunication centres under pressureStaff at the three Police Communications centres say they have had enough of the stressesbrought on by continued understaffing. They say high staff turnover, significant increases incall volumes and the regular linking of channels to cover staff shortages is putting lives at risk.Police News Editor, Steve Plowman investigated those claims and the following series of articleshighlights staff concerns.Staff and public safety compromisedby inadequate staffing levelsBy Steve Plowman, Editor, Police NewsCommunications centre staff, who answer111 calls and dispatch units accordingly,are like jugglers. Often they work in anatmosphere of constant pressure.Serious staffing shortages are compromisingthe health and safety ofComms staff, frontline police officersand members of the public.In the last five years, emergency callsto Police have increased by 50% whilestaffing has decreased by 2.11%. Policeexpect an 8% increase in calls this year.Some staff say the resultant workloadsand stress make them feel as if they are“playing Russian Roulette” with people’slives.One worker said the centres can be agood place to work when fully staffed,then added: “But I’ve been there severalyears and they haven’t got it right yet.”Stressful environmentThe communicators (call takers) anddispatchers, who are at the forefrontof emergency situations, do a great jobin an extremely stressful environment.Their every move is scrutinised closelyand lives depend on their split seconddecisions. Communicators face thestress of dealing with the public and allthat entails. Dispatchers send availableunits to jobs. The welfare of street staffis foremost in their minds.They have to prioritise jobs as diverse asarmed robberies and missing children.They are to the Police what air trafficcontrollers are to the aviation industry.Comms staff are predominantly femaleand most are non-sworn. Eighty percentwork fulltime, 20 percent part-time.Comms centres operate year round.One dispatcher told Police News thatstaff feared becoming de-sensitized insuch a pressure-cooker environment.When 111 calls are queued, severalblue lights on the ceiling flash and a redlight flashes on each communicator/dispatcher’s desk. Dispatchers areconstantly being asked by team leadersto answer 111 calls when these lightsflash. “The problem is that people areso busy and so stressed that they getto the stage where they run the risk ofnot caring anymore about that queuedcalls...people are getting to the pointwhere they are thinking ‘bugger it Ican’t be bothered’, and that’s not healthyin an emergency response centre,” thedispatcher said.They say the problem is that Commsis being run as a ‘lean machine’.“Basically, there is no fat in the system,”an experienced dispatcher told PoliceNews. “We all know it’s hard to plan foremergency situations but we are facedwith the same staffing crisis year in andyear out and it all comes back to shortstaffing. There is very little training forthe new sworn staff. They are fasttrackedto dispatching and it shouldn’tbe considered a given that becauseyou’re a sworn staff member you’resuddenly going to be able to pick upthat role,” the dispatcher said. “Traineedispatchers are often thrown in at thedeep end and there is little back-upavailable from experienced dispatchersbecause they are often running linkedchannels.”• Northern Comms handles over 750,000 calls per year. (Photo courtesy of the NZ Herald).76
New Zealand Police AssociationMay 2004Staff percentages decreaseThere are three Comms centresnationwide - North (Auckland),Central (Wellington) and South(Christchurch). Nationwide there are324 staff, according to figures Ministerof Police, George Hawkins, produced inParliament last year (down 7.95% fromofficial Police Department figures of 352a year earlier).According to the Police Department’swebsite, Comms centres handleapproximately 1, 140,000 calls per year.But inquiries by Police News indicate theactual figure from 1 June, 2002 to 31May, 2003 was 1,405,968 (a differenceof 265,968).The busiest of the centres is NorthernComms (from Cape Reinga in the northto Turangi in the south). It covers apopulation of 2 millionpeople and receivesapproximately 53.38%of all calls. CentralComms covers fromTaumarunui and EastCape in the north toWellington in the south. It servicesa population of 1 million people.Southern Comms, which covers theentire South Island plus Stewart Island,services a population of 900,000people. These two centres each receiveapproximately 23.31% of all calls peryear. The management of all threecentres is based in Wellington.The Police Department has consistentlyresponded to Police Associationconcerns about Comms staffinglevels with the stock answer that thethree centres are currently at “targetnumbers”. It is the Association’s positionthat staffing levels need urgent revisionin light of the above figures and theconsequent stress on Comms staff.There are other issues.If a 111 call is not answered within 70seconds, it is transferred to one of theother two Centres.Operational risksIncreasingly, operators say they areoverseeing more than one channel. Thisprocess is known as linking channels.According to staff, linking is beingused to cover staff shortages. It shouldonly be used as a last resort, whenan unexpected situation occurs. Aninternal Police hazard report addressedto an OSH Manager, viewed by PoliceNews recently, said that the linkingof channels presented not only an“operational risk” but that linking“should not be employed as a matterof course in an effort to address a staffshortfall”.The official Police line is that linkingoccurs “occasionally”. Staff say thisis not the reality they know. Oneformer dispatcher told Police News thatlinking channels presented staff with anightmare scenario in which they wentfrom “being responsible for 40 staff oneminute to suddenly being responsiblefor 80 staff the next.”A March 8, 2004 hazard report, issuedby a North Comms staff member, statesthat “police channels were linked fora third day in a row” and that Commshad been “unable to co-ordinate arolling block to protect a member fromhighway traffic.”The Association is of the opinion that the Governmentmust provide additional funding towards dealing with thisoverflow effect and address short-staffing by ‘tagging’money from the budget, which is due to be presented on 27May, for Comm centres.An incident last year highlights thedangers street staff face when linkingbecomes commonplace. An offenderpulled a knife on a police officer in theCentral districts and, after overpoweringthe offender, the officer found hecould not call for back-up because theGisborne and New Plymouth channelshad been constantly linked.A police officer in Taranaki told PoliceNews that staff there were “continuallyfrustrated” by the linking of theGisborne and Taranaki channels andafter raising concerns they had beentold that the channels would bereconfigured so as this would not occur.They are still waiting as this issue goesto press. The officer said that staff wereparticularly concerned that de-linkinghad not occurred during seriousincidents. “It’s not Comms staff fault,we understand that, but the staffinglevels there impact on what’s happeningoperationally,” the officer said.Acknowledging problemsThe Commissioner of Police, RobRobinson, has previously acknowledgedstaffing pressures in the Commscentres. At the Police Association’sAnnual Conference last October, PoliceAssociation Director, Craig Prior,highlighted staff concerns at SouthernComms. He said there had been a 32%increase in workloads and that some200 calls had been missed as a result.Commissioner Robinson respondedby saying: “We are certainly aware ofthe pressure points and the numberand growth in call volumes are exactlyso. I sit down with Comms centremanagement and we tease those outfrequently.” Commissisoner Robinsonsaid that some thought was being givento partitioning of emergency calls fromgeneral calls, as happens in New SouthWales. He said this was a “possibleapproach” to overloading problemsbut that, “in the great school of thingsin the last couple of years - and we areengaged on it - we have seen higherpriorities for financing and these havebeen Auckland-based.” He also said hewas looking at getting extra fundingfrom outside agencies in order toaddress the problem.Funding is a key issue.In 2001, at the behestof Minister of Police,George Hawkins, theLTSA (Land TransportSafety Authority)was provided withextra fundingtagged at supplying an additional 240highway patrol staff. While this wascommendable in terms of the driveto bring down the road toll, it tookno account of the other operationalpressures it would bring for othersectors of Police, especially Comms.The Association is of the opinion thatthe Government must target additionalfunding towards dealing with thisoverflow effect by ‘tagging’ moneyfrom the Budget, which is due to bepresented on 27 May, for Commscentres.ContradictionsBut recent correspondence from DeputyCommissioner Steve Long, whileacknowledging what he calls “tensions”in Comms, states that: “Comms centresare not short-staffed in so far as theygenerally meet or exceed their staffingtargets.”Police News investigations suggest thatthose ‘targets’ have been unrealisticallylow since the inception of the Commscentre network in February 1997and are being further eroded by staffturnovers.Internal Police Department documentsindicate that Comms has the largestturnover of staff of any section withinPolice - averaging a 12.5% staff turnoverrate per year nationwide. In the threeyears to June 2003, 122 staff resigned77
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Police News May - New Zealand Police Association

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