Relationships

337. The CCSC has a variety of stakeholder groups it interacts with. These include Police Districts, other government departments, community groups and the public. The strength of the relationships with these stakeholders varies considerably.

338. Relationships with Police Districts at the senior level are generally good. However, relationships with front-line police are not as good although this varies across the country.

Police District Relationships

339. The Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between the CCSC and Police Districts are not highly valued by Districts. There is a lack of standardisation in the SLAs which, while understandable from a district tactical perspective, does lead to confusion among CCSC staff on how and why a particular District likes things to be done.

340. The Review Panel believes there needs to be closer working relationships between the CCSC and Districts to clarify mutual expectations. There are a variety of ways this could be achieved including District staff spending more time in Communications Centres and vice versa.? The flip-side to this is that Districts may have to adopt more nationally standardised communication protocols set by the CCSC.

341. Where collocation of Centre and Station exists, this should provide excellent opportunity for interaction by CCSC staff with District management teams and staff within the respective district. Conversely this structure means that CCSC managers and staff are less accessible to Districts outside of the immediate area. However, as very little evidence was seen of any physical interaction between District and CCSC staff, it appears there are more inherent relationship issues.

Community Group Relationships

342. There are a myriad of organisations that the CCSC does and could, interact with. Clearly, confidence in Police by some community groups has waned. The Review Panel believes that the CCSC contact with these groups should be coordinated through the broader Police liaison officer network (i.e. Iwi, Pacific or Ethnic Liaison Officers) to maximise the opportunities to consult and inform.

Public Education and Information

343. The New Zealand Police has to more readily establish the public’s expectations on police contact and emergency response. The Review Panel notes there is no formal mechanism to consult the public and community groups about police response expectations. By learning about what these expectations are, Police could better orientate their communications strategy to either satisfy or manage those expectations.

344. Managing the public’s expectations can be accomplished through public education programmes focused on when and how to contact Police. The Panel’s view is that the public need to be better educated about the use of "111". Similarly, they will need to be informed about the establishment of alternative ways of contacting the Police that may flow from this Review.???

Liaison with Emergency Management Organisations

345. Relationships between the CCSC and Ambulance and Fire, are generally good. However there is a gap in national operational relationships with governmental emergency response organisations such as Civil Defence. Relationships appear to exist, however, at the strategic Governmental level between Police and these agencies.??

346. The NCB type body the Panel has recommended, should consider deepening these relationships and task the CCSC National Management Group with achieving this.?

Recommendations

347. The CCSC and Districts should seek ways to improve their formal and informal relationships.

348. The form and content of Service Level Agreements should be reviewed by the ‘National Communications Board’ so that their utility and value to Districts and the CCSC are enhanced.

349. Community group liaison by the CCSC should continue through the relevant District Liaison Officers (i.e. Iwi, Pacific or Ethnic Liaison Officers).

350. Public expectations on contact responsiveness by Police should be regularly measured so these can be used to set performance targets, and shape the content of public education campaigns.

351. Working relationships between the CCSC and emergency response agencies should be deepened.