Quality of Service to the Public

We deal with a wide range of contacts from the public for various reasons. For each contact, the Force should deliver a level of service to the public that meets their needs and expectations.

We need to:

• provide a high quality service which is responsive to the needs of users, particularly victims, witnesses and children;
• improve public confidence in the criminal justice system, including increasing the confidence of minority ethnic communities and, year on year, the satisfaction of victims and witnesses; and
• ensure that personal contact with the police, which is one of the strongest influences on overall levels of trust and confidence, is a positive experience.
   

To do this we must:

• publish details of how people can access our services in their area, e.g. police station opening times;
• provide a range of ways to access our services which address the security, comfort and welfare needs of users and ensure information is accessible;
• listen so that we properly understand the nature of people's enquiries and explain how they are going to be dealt with;
• act with integrity and treat everyone we deal with politely, fairly, openly and with respect;
• give priority to enquiries that require an emergency response, set targets and monitor our performance;
• take peoples' concerns seriously and explain what we are doing to address them, including whether or not we are taking action and why;
• wherever possible, provide people with the name and the contact details of the person dealing with their case;
• keep people up to date on the progress of our enquiries at convenient times and in an agreed way, adhering to any requests they may have made about confidentiality;
• contact people to let them know whether we are still actively investigating their case and when we will review that decision;
• inform people when action is taken against a suspect and, if they want to receive the information, what the action was;
• make it easier for us to learn from concerns expressed by the public to build confidence both in the systems of accountability and the police; and
• respond and investigate complaints and, if we have made a mistake or acted incorrectly, apologise and take steps to prevent it happening again.

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If you have a query about this policy, please telephone 101 and ask for the Head of Management Support.

Alternatively, you may write to West Yorkshire Police Headquarters, PO Box 9, Laburnum Road, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF1 3QP, England.