Investment from this year’s council tax is being used to increase the number of staff dealing with calls from the public in the Force Contact Centre. This has improved the first contact that people have with Northamptonshire Police.

In the 12 months up to the end of June 2024, Northamptonshire Police received more than 143,000 calls to 999.

Northamptonshire Police is consistently one of the country’s top performing Forces for answering 999 calls, with more than 90 per cent answered in under 10 seconds.

Superintendent Pete Basham of the Force Contact Centre said that the investment in more staff – 12 new call handlers are now on board – has meant that the Force has been able to maintain its reliable performance in answering emergency calls.

He said: “We want to answer calls as quickly as possible. We do our absolute best to keep people safe and make the first contact that people have with Northamptonshire Police the absolute best it can be. Answering calls promptly and well means we have the best start in responding to and resolving crime and anti-social behaviour.”

Non-emergency 101 calls are triaged. The highest risk crime and incidents are dealt with most quickly, in around three minutes on average. Lower risk calls are answered in three minutes 50 seconds. Supt Basham said that he would like to make further improvements in 101 call handling over the coming year.

Northamptonshire Police control room dealt with around 173,000 calls to the non-emergency 101 number in the last 12 months.

People who want to pass on information or report something that isn’t an emergency can also do that quickly and easily on the Force website northants.police.uk

Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone said: “People want to be able to contact the police quickly and easily and to feel that they are taken seriously. I am pleased that we have been able to invest in more staff. That has helped and supported the staff to improve the service they deliver.”

A series of visits is taking place to understand the issues that face retailers and residents, and identify solutions. Our county town Northampton was the first under the spotlight, and Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone visited centre businesses to talk about retail crime and other issues affecting them.

Visits to Corby and Daventry are scheduled to take place soon.

Danielle was accompanied on the visit to Northampton by Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet. Together they met with retailers and business owners on a fact-finding mission. This will help to inform their strategic priorities.

Danielle Stone said: “When I was elected in May, I made a promise that I would be visible and accessible, and that work has already started.

“I’m pleased to have been out with the Chief Constable talking to retailers in Northampton town centre, and finding out from them what the issues are. It’s clear from the conversations we’ve had that retailers are particularly vulnerable to theft and abuse and that’s totally unacceptable. But they also discussed anti-social behaviour and drug use.

“I want to call regular meetings with businesses. We are now making plans to carry out similar visits to retailers across the county in places such as Corby and Daventry.”

Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet said the discussions are an opportunity to consider how the situation can be improved for everyone who works in and visits the town centre.

He said: “It’s clear that retailers really want to work with the Police, but I know there is a long way to go to rebuild trust and confidence.

“We have got some really dedicated PCSOs, staff and police officers who work tirelessly to tackle crime in the town centre.”

During the visit, Danielle and Ivan were accompanied by Mark Mullen, who is the Operations Manager of Northampton BID, which is made up of town centre businesses.

Following the visit to the town centre, a number of priorities have emerged.

Danielle Stone has pledged to bring back the retail roundtables that have proved successful in the past, saying: “We have to be in touch with people who are most affected, as they will be able to help with the solutions.”

And Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet said the Force will look at patrol numbers in the town centre to help improve visibility and rebuild trust and confidence that the police can effectively tackle retail crime.

Out and about

The visit to Northampton town centre retailers is just one example of how Danielle Stone, and her new deputy Marianne Kimani, will be conducting their business.

Both Danielle and Marianne will be going out and about to meet residents, workers, and businesses across the county to get their views, fact find and engage with local communities to ensure their voice is heard.

Those voices will help inform the priorities within the Commissioner’s Police, Fire and Crime Plan, directly affecting how decisions will be made when it comes to protecting the public.

Danielle said: “I don’t believe in people making decisions and plans shut up in a room. We need to be listening to people and that’s exactly what we will be doing.”

The #StaySafe4Summer campaign is run annually by Northamptonshire Police PCSO Naomi Coote to share life-saving advice with primary school-age children across her Northampton Central patch.

Naomi organised sessions in 10 schools in the run-up to the holidays, working with Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service and other partners to deliver assemblies for children in Years 5 and 6.

The pupils designed a safety superhero poster with PFCC Danielle Stone, Acting Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet and Assistant Chief Fire Officer Rob Porter deciding the winner.

The winning poster was then announced at an event at the Grosvenor Centre in Northampton and made into safety advice leaflets which will be handed out at events over the summer.

South End Junior School in Rushden was awarded £1, 500 from the PFCC’s Road Safety Community Fund.

The school applied for funding to help tackle problem parking at either end of the school day.

Pupils from South End Junior designed posters reminding adults to ‘think before you park’ and the winning two entries were made into signage and put on display outside the school building.

Headteacher Gurdip Kaur said: “Traffic at the beginning and end of the school day poses issues at several schools and South End is no exception.

“We hope the signs make a difference and encourage adults to consider the safety of our children and community at drop off and collection times.”

PFCC Danielle Stone said: “I am passionate about working with young people across the county so I would like to thank all the staff from Northamptonshire Police and Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service who made this possible.”

Applications for funding are welcomed from any school, charity or non-profit organisation from across the county. There are three grant schemes available – The Road Safety Fund, Small Grants Scheme and Making Northamptonshire Safe Fund.

More information and detail on how to apply can be found on the OPFCC Website.

Study Tours will see specialists from the Commissioner’s Office working with partner agencies and local residents to take a walk around their neighbourhood and carry out an environmental audit.

An environmental audit helps to highlight the factors that are making an area less safe and enabling crime, such as overhanging bushes and lack of lighting.

As well as identifying real improvements that can be made, the Study Tours aim to bring together the responsible agencies with local residents, who will work together to make a visible difference in local communities.

The information gathered will also inform Danielle as she puts together her Police, Fire and Crime Plan for the county.

Danielle said: “As the only elected office holder with a countywide remit, I know I have a key role in bringing partners together to tackle issues affecting the safety of our communities.

“I want local people to be a key part of this, working alongside organisations and empowered to help make their communities safer by identifying the improvements they want to see.”

Work is taking place now to identify the areas for the first study tours, which will begin soon.

The Stand Up to Crime campaign was launched by Northamptonshire Police. It was spearheaded by the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (OPFCC), which received £150,000 in funding from the Home Office’s Safer Streets scheme to help tackle acquisitive crime such as burglary, vehicle theft and robbery.

Throughout July, the crime prevention packs have been delivered to residents in the Weston ward of Northampton and Kingswood in Corby. The two areas have been selected for the pilot scheme due to high levels of acquisitive crime.The campaign and kits urge residents to do three things with their homes and possessions: Secure it, mark it, record it. The crime prevention packs include items such as alarms that allow residents to secure their homes.

A SmartWater kit is included which allows residents to mark valuable possessions with a unique code registered to the owner which can only be seen under UV light. Up to 1,000 UV torches are being issued to all frontline police officers to aid routine checking, and Custody Suites in the county have been fitted with LED lights to check occupants and any property they have.

The prevention kits also have tags which link to the free Immobilise service, allowing residents to record the serial numbers and unique identifiers of their possessions. This will help make it more likely victims can be reunited with any stolen possessions.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone said: “Reducing neighbourhood crime is a top priority for me and I am determined to support initiatives that help people to feel safe and be safe in their homes.

“I am pleased that I can support simple crime prevention campaigns like this which, coupled with more visible local policing, can help make people more secure.”

Following the pilot scheme in Weston and Kingswood, the campaign is being rolled out across the county, with crime prevention packs being available to purchase at a discounted rate.  Kits will also be given to 3,000 people who have been repeat victims of crime.

All fire engines will have ten-second triage kits, which allow fire crews to identify what category of care an injured patient needs within ten seconds and put a colour coded wristband on that quickly identifies to paramedics which patients need urgent care.

The kit has been purchased following the findings of the Manchester Arena inquiry, and it will allow all emergency responders – whether that’s Fire, Police or Ambulance – to start to be able to rapidly triage patients and mark what priority of care they will need at major and critical incidents.

Xtract Stretchers will also be added to all frontline appliances, and this will allow fire crews to be able to quickly move people away from areas of risk.

Group Commander Matt Butler said: “One of the learning points from the Manchester Arena inquiry was that the triage process needed to be standardised across the Emergency Services. One of the recommendations was that fire staff be trained in utilising these Ten Second Triage kits.

“The kits will be added to all frontline appliances. We anticipate that training will have been completed by September.”

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone added: “It is so important that our emergency services work together to keep people safe.

“The addition of the ten-second triage kits to our fire engines is really going to help in our preparation for major events, as well as responding to them with our emergency service partners.”