VIDEO: Behind the scenes at Thames Valley Police’s control room in Oxford
Have you ever wondered what the other side of a 999 or 101 call looks like?
Newburytoday took a peak behind the curtain at a Thames Valley Police (TVP) control room to find out.
We spoke with their call handlers to find out more about the role.
Thames Valley Police’s core call handling happens in Oxford and on the day Newburytoday visited, things were a bit more calm and quiet than normal.
On this day, 97.6 per cent of calls were answered in 10 seconds.
In the past 12 months, there has been a nine per cent increase in 999 calls.
In the year April 1, 2021 - March 31 2022, Thames Valley Police received 372,895 999 calls.
But in the year April 1, 2022 - March 31 2023, it received 404,654.
But the number of 101 calls reduced with TVP receiving 471,512 in the past 12 months, compared to 497,453 calls in the year prior - a five per cent decrease.
Olly Pape has been a call handler for two months and, in that time, he has taken 711 calls.
In those 711 calls, there is a 3:1 ratio between 101 calls and 999 calls.
Looking at an average day, he said in 34 calls, just 15 were transferred into actual incidents.
He said there are often different categories of crime depending on the time of his shift.
“We might have more mental health related calls at night and assaults.
“In the morning it’s theft.
“We’ve had more violent ones and domestics.”
The 22-year-old added: “We try not to think about some of them.
“I find it easy to switch off and we have welfare rooms and things that can help you.”
For some, particularly difficult cases are a little harder to forget.
Inspector Tom Dorman is the ‘Oscar 1’ - the control room inspector in the office - and has spent four years in the role.
The force incidents manager said some incidents do stick with him – the murder of Olly Stephens in 2021 being one.
“That stuck with me,” he said.
“And there was Forbury Gardens [knife attack in 2020].
“People are still talking about it.
“We have really good welfare support and we recognise that we have dealt with something.”
He says being an officer who has on-the-ground perspective, helps him do his job better.
And so does former officer, now call handler, Bruce Robinson who has spent 18 years in the control room.
He said: “We try not to worry about things and shut off when we get home.
“But about five or six years ago we had the Andrew Harper case and we had one girl who is still shaken by it.”
But not all of the calls are heavy, some can put a smile on the call handler’s faces.
Eddie Elias has been a call handler for three-and-half years.
“One early morning I took a call from an elderly lady.
“She was upset that nobody was helping her and she was crying and I was trying to get to the bottom of what was going on.
“A cat had got into the house and got onto her bed and she was frightened to go bed.
“It is not something the police would normally deal with.
“But I got some officers to go down and take the cat out.”
Some calls are more stressful but equally rewarding.
“A couple years ago I had a suicidal male who was an airline pilot,” he said.
“During Covid, he wasn’t flying and he was losing money and couldn’t afford his new pilots licence. He decided to take his own life.
“I talked to him for a while, I talked to him about his family.”
He added: “I tried to work out where he was and I got an area.
“I saved him.”
