6. Answer all non-emergency calls promptly. If attendance is needed, send a patrol giving you an estimated time of arrival, and:
If you are vulnerable or upset aim to be with you within 60 minutes.
If you are calling about an issue that we have agreed with your community will be a neighbourhood priority (listed below) and attendance is required, we will aim to be with you within 60 minutes.
Alternatively, if appropriate, we will make an appointment to see you at a time that fits in with your life and within 48 hours.
If agreed that attendance is not necessary we will give you advice, answer your questions and / or put you in touch with someone who can help.
As above these are the fundamentals of how communications rooms across the force operate.
7. Arrange regular public meetings to agree your priorities, at least once a month, giving you a chance to meet your local team with other members of your community. These will include opportunities such as surgeries, street briefings and mobile police station visits which will be arranged to meet local needs and requirements.
Key to the development of our Neighbourhood Policing approach were Police and Community Together (PACT) meetings which are held during the first week of every month and lead to a series of PACT priorities being agreed for each neighbourhood. Find out what your local priorities are by entering your postcode or streetname in the My Neighbourhood search on the right hand side of this page.
8. Provide monthly updates on progress, and on local crime and policing issues. This will include the provision of crime maps, information on specific crimes and what happened to those brought to justice, details of what action we and our partners are taking to make your neighbourhood safer and information on how your force is performing.
Monthly updates and information about what has happened to those brought to justice are a standard feature of the PACT process and are provided verbally, through posters and via the website. The media is also used to help publicise these messages at a local level.
Lancashire has led the way nationally in terms of crime mapping with the MADE system which can be accessed via www.saferlancashire.gov.uk or via each neighbourhood page on the Constabulary's website. This system also includes information on police performance at a local level.
A local policing summary is produced annually in Lancashire by the Police Authority and the Constabulary which gives local performance and priority information and is delivered door to door across the county.
9. If you have been a victim of crime agree with you how often you would like to be kept informed of progress in your case and for how long. You have the right to be kept informed at least every month if you wish and for as long as is reasonable.
Lancashire has already established this service as core business through its Quality Counts initiative and it is by the Citizen Focus Bureaus which are now in each division across the county. The Victim Care Pack is also a key product for this activity.
10. Acknowledge any dissatisfaction with the service you have received within 24 hours of reporting it to us. To help us fully resolve the matter, discuss with you how it will be handled, give you an opportunity to talk in person to someone about your concerns and agree with you what will be done about them and how quickly.
Failure to reply within a reasonable time is a common theme raised by the public. This area of the Pledge has been deliberately set to address such an issue. The Constabulary will be reviewing its performance in this area from telephone calls through to letters receieved to add value to an already slick process. Visit the 'Contact Us' section of the website to find out how to have your say.