358. The Review Panel identifies throughout this report that there are issues with the CCSC that need to be addressed and makes recommendations to deal with them. The recommendations made are not exhaustive and deliberately not overly prescriptive but offer guidance for the future direction of New Zealand Police communications.
352. New Zealand Police will need to consider what short, medium and long term actions are required and consolidate the recommendations in this report with work already underway relating to the Communications Centres.
353. An implementation plan should be devised to outline what needs to be done now (within six months), including the priority items to develop better service and enable a sustainable operation pending the implementation of mid to long term actions which will be more strategic in nature.
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.
305. There appears to be limited involvement of the CCSC in District planning and the execution of operations. In examples provided it appears that District staff and management tend to advise rather than consult Centres on operational orders and in some cases, provide no advice at all of planned operations that Centre management and staff should be made aware of as they are likely to be impacted on. More importantly, no knowledge of or involvement in contributing to planning denies the opportunity for setting a support plan for Comms in place.
246. There are a large number of issues with the CCSC processes and systems that the Panel has identified. The processes and systems relate to how calls are received by the CCSC, decisions made about appropriate actions, and then dispatch of police units in response.
247. Telecom has requirements under the Telecommunication Service Obligation (TSO) Deed to:
157. This section reviews the many issues pertaining to staffing and people management within the CCSC.
158. People and systems provide the core capability of the CCSC. The systems that the CCSC employs are world class, but the people capability is under-developed.?
159. The Review Panel has been impressed by the dedication of the CCSC management and staff to the work they do, and their desire to improve the performance.
130. In 1996, New Zealand Police moved from 29 District-based control rooms Computer Aided Dispatch [CAD] system to a centralised Communications and Resource Deployment (CARD) system. Three Communications Centres were established nationwide at the three main centres, namely Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
131. The establishment of three Centres allows for effective business continuity planning and provides access to a large proportion of the population for the purpose of recruiting and retaining staff.
102. The people in leadership and management roles within CCSC possess diverse professional and operational policing experience. The Panel has been impressed with the commitment to their work, and the desire to improve the CCSC’s performance and credibility with police officers and the public.
103. There are, however, a large number of factors adversely affecting leadership and management behaviours in the CCSC. These are:
79. The Review Panel sees communications command as a core policing capability. How it is practised affects both command and management effectiveness, and relationships with the communities police serve.
80. As communication technologies advance, so does the need for police forces to utilise the technologies to detect, manage and reduce crime, as well as enhance their interactions internally with police; and with the public.
30. Currently, New Zealand Police Communications Centres receive around 1.6 million calls each year, of which in 2004, 466,000 came through the national emergency "111" number.[3] This represents 60% of the genuine "111" calls handled by Telecom New Zealand Ltd. (Telecom) with 29% of calls for Ambulance and 11% of calls for service from New Zealand Fire.? (Telecom rejects around 68% of all incoming "111" calls as false or bogus).
