JUST six weeks after the campaign launch, hundreds of thousands of people across the county have engaged online with Surrey Police’s ‘Policing Matters’ campaign which asks the public to think twice about whether their call is actually a policing matter and if it is, then is it an emergency?

The campaign, which involved a series of thought-provoking videos, has so far engaged with potentially up to 500,000 people online alone.

In addition the videos have been shown on Sky TV, in cinemas across Surrey, playing as radio advertisements on Eagle Radio, Heart Radio and Radio Jackie and advertisements on buses across the county.

Furthermore, the public have been able to play their part in determining what is a ‘Policing Matter’ by taking on the role of a call handler in an interactive game. Against the clock the player has to make the tough decision on what incidents need police attendance. This aspect of the campaign was launched in October and has been played more than 20,000 times so far.

Temporary deputy chief constable Gavin Stephens said: “In April, as part of the Policing In Your Neighbourhood project, we will be changing our local policing model to make sure we can respond to those who need our help the most.

“The public have a big part to play in making that happen by understanding whether their situation is actually a policing matter and if it is whether it is then an emergency or not.

“That’s why we’ve had to raise awareness of what we should and shouldn’t be dealing with.

“We receive around 675,500 contacts a year from the public and last year we deployed to 10,270 incidents which were not policing matters and would have been more appropriate for another agency to deal with.

“This is a clear indication of why we cannot carry on as we have been.

“In cases where it’s a policing matter but it’s not an emergency - if we were able to resolve 25,000 calls over the phone without deployment we would be able to save £1.8 million. This is based on the average cost of £40 per office and 1.8 officers per deployment.

“To put it into context, we need only resolve approximately 830 calls over the phone that don’t require our attendance to recoup the money spent on this ‘Policing Matters’ campaign.

“Calls to 999 should only be made for serious crimes, crimes in action or if someone’s life is in danger. If it is a policing matter but does not fall into those categories we ask the public to report online or call 101 anytime.”

• Changing face of crime

In the last three years there has been a:–

• 153 per cent increase in reports of rape.

• 122 per cent increase in reports of sexual offences.

• 34 per cent increase in reports of domestic violence.

In the same time period reports of:–

• House burglaries have fallen by 24 per cent

• Theft from cars have fallen by 32 per cent

Other demands include:–

• Five hospitals feature in the top 10 locations for repeated calls for help

• Public safety and welfare issues currently make up 27 per cent of all the incidents the police deal with

• Fifty to 60 per cent of crimes involve a vulnerable victim, witness or offender.

• What is PIYN?

In April 2016, changes to front-line services will see local policing teams grow as we will have more officers working for a specific borough or district, tackling local problems and supporting smaller but still dedicated Safer Neighbourhood Teams.

Communities will continue to have a dedicated local Inspector and dedicated Safer Neighbourhood Team police community support officers who will work with partners such as hospitals and councils to make communities safer.

They will be focused on solving the chronic local issues that cause the greatest risk and harm to local communities.

Teams who safeguard the most vulnerable in their communities will also increase in size.