PCC meets officers as part of National Response Week

Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson has spent time with Wiltshire Police's emergency response team as part of National Response Week.

This awareness week highlights the great work carried out by our police response team, which is already well known in our communities because of the effective work they do.

The unit provides front-line response to a wide range of incidents including complex and sometimes confrontational situations.

Attending a wide variety of 999 calls that every day in Wiltshire, these response officers are usually people's first thought when they think of policing. 

For the officers, it's a role that not only demands both physical and mental strength but also great flexibility, as they don't know what situation, sometimes dangerous, they'll be thrown into.

Whilst on patrol, PCC Philip Wilkinson said 

"Doing this part of the job requires a lot of enthusiasm, a passion to help people and 100% focus on the situation they're dealing with.

“They never know what is going to be expected of them when they arrive at the emergency and which part of their training and experience they are going to have to draw upon to do their job effectively.

"I know about this because of the commendation ceremonies that highlight the bravery and selflessness of the officers. 

"But there’s always room for improvement and improving the service the public receives from Wiltshire Police is top of my agenda. 

"This team’s main role is to help people but they're also part of Priority One of my Police and Crime Plan for making Wiltshire safer. 

"In this priority 'Having a police service that meets the needs of its communities', I am focusing on increasing the quality of police services provided to all our communities and giving the police the right tools for the job.

"This will help this team to continue and improve the great work that they do, and I will continue to monitor and challenge the Force’s performance, as well as addressing it directly in my Police and Crime Plan".

The PCC is also addressing the time it takes to answer 999 calls after a national league table showed the Force ranked mid-table when compared to other police areas. Find out more: Wiltshire Police taking steps to answer 999 calls faster after national figures ranked the force mid league table (wiltshire-pcc.gov.uk)