Sussex Police wins with SMS customer service

Sussex Police is a team of 5,783 officers and staff, women and men, whose shared mission is to Serve Sussex. This service is based on the three pillars of:

o Keeping People Safe
o Neighbourhood Policing
o Making Best Use of Resources

Sussex Police places a great deal of importance on partnerships - working together - whether formal partnerships between police, local authorities and other agencies, or less formal ones with local people and communities.

One such partnership is with WIN plc, specialists in the management and delivery of dynamic information and interaction services. This partnership has enabled a new way for Sussex Police and its customers to communicate.

Through its community engagement activities, Sussex Police encourages suggestions and feedback from the people of Sussex as to how the force can improve its communication and response to customer requests. Discussions with local groups and associations identified that there were many people for whom text messaging would be a preferable way of communicating with the police.

In particular, text messaging would enable the police and hearing and speech-impaired communities engage more effectively.

WIN was recommended to Sussex Police through its mobile services provider Vodafone, and the requirements were outlined to the WIN account team.

WIN set up two text response numbers – 65999 is the emergency text shortcode for use when lives are being threatened, if offenders are nearby and if immediate action is required.

An alternative 11 digit number is provided for texts about non-emergency information and incidents.

Providing this choice of numbers means that Sussex Police can deploy resources immediately to respond to real emergencies, while less time-critical incidents, such as abandoned vehicles or graffiti, can be reported via the non-emergency number, keeping the blue light services dedicated to critical incidents.

Text messages sent to 65999 are received by WIN, converted to email and sent to the Sussex Police control room co-ordinators who receive them via their Outlook email. The messages are also copied as SMS to nominated police mobile phones as a security back-up.

Control room staff prioritise their emails, together with the 999 calls that come in via the usual telephone route, and dispatch the relevant emergency services. An email response is sent back to the originator of the SMS emergency call via the WIN platform, and is delivered to their mobile phone as a confirmation of message receipt.

It takes on average 30 seconds for the text message to appear on screen as an email at the Sussex Police control room via the WIN platform, even taking into account that currently the mobile phone networks do not prioritise text messaging.

The results of initial trials with selected users were positive, and the service went live in May 2008. It was advertised to the general population via the Sussex Police website, leaflets and other literature available from police stations and via the supporting community associations.

WIN’s account manager for the Sussex Police is Martin King, and his key contact in the force is Paul Ralph (MCMA) Business Systems& Contingency Coordinator. Paul is the driving force behind the implementation of this new SMS communication, together with Inspector Graham Warner, Business Change Manager. Graham is relationship manager for the hearing impaired, and spent a great deal of time with both adults and children introducing and explaining the new SMS service.

“We serve the whole community, as well as visitors to the county, so we need to be proactive in engaging with as many of our customers as possible. WIN’s technology platform has enabled us to be accessible to many more people, using a medium that is familiar, convenient, discreet and cost-effective,” said Paul Ralph. “We have seen use of the SMS service rise steadily as more people realise how simple it can be to play their part in helping to keep Sussex a safer place to live and work.”

WIN provides the messaging technology, the bespoke SMS-email-SMS application, the emergency shortcode and long number and technical service delivery. The service was procured and is managed through HTK, a hosted telecom services provider, under an approved public sector procurement framework.

WIN delivers a complete solution from consultation and concept, through to design, development, implementation and on-going service and support. Operating 24/7, 365 days a year, WIN is a customer driven company, committed to solving business challenges with business solutions, not by technology alone. These solutions are supported by a robust, secure, scalable and flexible delivery platform developed over many years by some of the best mobile technologists in the UK. The new text service was launched on the Sussex Police website and through printed brochures available at all police stations, through community engagement staff and from organizations such as the Sussex Deaf Association, who provided invaluable help and advice as the project was implemented. Sussex Police won a RADAR Award for the implementation of this project, which has led to enquiries from around the country from police, fire and ambulance services considering similar SMS schemes.

The Sussex force is now looking at upgrading the service so it can accept multimedia messages – MMS – enabling audio and visual images to be sent in to the police. “The service has without doubt engaged more people from the community that we serve,” said Chief Superintendent Chris Ambler. “

About Sussex Police

Sussex – the kingdom of the South Saxons – is bound to the south by the English Channel, to the west by Hampshire, to the north by Surrey and to the east by Kent. Sussex is approximately 80 miles from west to east and 30 miles from north to south. The county has some 100 miles of coastline, including areas of high scenic value such as Chichester Harbour, the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head. Some 60 per cent of Sussex is included in areas of outstanding natural beauty and has been designated as a South Downs National Park.

The current resident population of Sussex is about 1.5 million, which is significantly supplemented by the seasonal influx of visitors to the south coast holiday resorts, particularly Brighton and Hove and Eastbourne. The population is overwhelmingly white, but there are small black and ethnic minority communities, including a significant Asian community in Crawley. There is a large lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population in Brighton and Hove. A perceived level of general prosperity in Sussex conceals significant pockets of social deprivation and a large elderly population on a small fixed income.

Sussex Police was formed in 1968 when the previously separate five county and borough forces were amalgamated as the result of the Police Act 1965. There are currently 5,783 employees, made up of 3283 police officers and 2500 police staff. Supported by volunteers and working closely with partners our service is delivered locally via our Neighbourhood Policing Teams.

Serving Sussex - It's What We Do

Sussex Police has developed considerably over the last few years and is now one of the most progressive forces in the United Kingdom. The radical local focus of the organisation is delivering improved performance and public confidence.

Our Serving Sussex three pillars of policing, Neighbourhood Policing, Keeping People Safe and making Best Use of Resources, underpin all that we do.