Police Contact Centre Officer

Police Contact Centre Officer
Location:
Surrey Police HQ – Guildford
Salary:
£33,714 per annum inclusive of shift allowance (£27,545 plus £6,169 shift and weekend working allowance)
Hours:
Based on an average of 36 hours per week on a four on, four off shift rota (two early shifts, two late shifts or night shifts, then four rest days).
Surrey Police is looking for Police Contact Centre Officers.
Are you the kind of person who wants to help fight crime and protect people, provide outstanding care for victims and witnesses, and be there for everyone who needs us?
When the going gets tough, Police Contact Centre Officers are there to help, whether it’s taking a report of a missing person, reassuring a victim of burglary, or supporting someone in crisis.
Surrey Police’s Contact Centre Officers play a vital role in helping keep our communities safe, protecting the most vulnerable and preventing harm.
For many people, you’ll be their first point of contact with the police and how you respond will make a difference.
If you are calm in an environment where no two days are the same, have an eye for detail and recording information, and can be a reassuring voice for someone who needs help, apply now.
In return, you’ll be offered a rewarding career with meaning, opportunities to develop and grow, and the chance to be part of our community of passionate colleagues.
One Team.
One Purpose.
One Surrey Police.
Role profile:
Being a Surrey Police Contact Centre Officer is certainly not your typical nine-to-five.
You will deal with emergency 999 calls, non-emergency 101 calls, and digital 101 contact, which comes in through our website and social media channels.
Factors such as weather, traffic accidents, or national or local events can all have an influence on the number and type of calls received.
With each call you’ll need to remain calm and in control, gathering as much information as possible by asking the right questions.
The information you gather will need to be accurately recorded in our systems to be transferred to the police officers who respond.
Our thorough training and ongoing support means you’ll be empowered to assess risk and prioritise each incident, ensuring an appropriate response.
Here's what the job entails in more detail:
• When a crime is reported, you'll ask initial questions to establish the risk and severity of the situation, and whether there are lines of investigation, including forensic opportunities.
With each contact we manage the expectations of the reporting person, providing crime reduction advice and reassurance.
• You’ll liaise with other emergency services and partner agencies, supporting the work they do and arranging for police involvement where this is needed.
• Many of the calls we receive are resolved within the Contact Centre through offering advice or signposting members of public to more appropriate agencies when it is not a matter dealt with by police.
With each contact you’ll be managing expectations and advising what police can and cannot do.
• From information given to us by our communities you’ll be identifying and recording information and intelligence to inform future policing operations.
• On a rotational basis, you’ll spend a shift as part of our digital 101 team, monitoring and responding to direct messages and comments through our Facebook and X channels.
This team also services the online chat facility available on the Surrey Police website.
• You’ll make sure we deliver outstanding care to victims and witnesses of crime by being focused, alert to whatever the next call could bring, and ready to deal with sometimes constant calls to a consistently high standard.
The Force offers all Police Contact Centre Officers:
• 180 hours’ annual leave, rising to 209 hours depending on your length of service.
• A progressive approach to flexible working, enhanced maternity and paternity leave and potential for a career break (after two years’ service).
• Great training and development opportunities that support future career progression.
• The opportunity to join various support networks, staff associations and sports clubs.
• Access to discounts/savings/cash-back rewards including the Blue Light Card which provides its members with access to more than 15,000 discounts from large national retailers to local businesses across categories such as holidays, cars, days out, fashion gifts, insurance, phones and many more.
• Access to private healthcare schemes, which attract preferential rates, including up a year’s free membership for new members (subject to terms and conditions).
• Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme, into which Surrey Police contributes more than the minimum that employers have to make.
There has never been a better time to join Surrey Police to make a difference in your community.
If this role interests you, please apply now.
Surrey Police will be inviting all candidates that pass this initial stage to an information evening in January or February.
Assessments and interviews will then be held.
If your application is successful, you will go through a vetting process so we and the public can be reassured that you have the character, conduct and reliability a member of police staff must have.
All successful candidates will start in April 2025
The post holder will be required to work a shift pattern of four on, four off (two early shifts, two late shifts or night shifts, then four rest days).
This is seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Starting salary:
£33,714 inclusive of shift allowance (£27,545 plus £6,169 shift and weekend working allowance)
Police Headquarters in Guildford, Surrey.
You must be able to travel to and from HQ at all times of the day.
Public transport will not always be available, so it’s strongly recommended that you have your own transport