New centres that will revolutionise the way Thames Valley Police handles telephone calls are on schedule to open early next year.
The force is switching from its seven control rooms covering Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to two hi-tech 999 control rooms based at Abingdon police station and Milton Keynes. They will be equipped with the latest technology and equipment to handle 999 calls.
Running alongside these will be two custom-built customer service centres, one at the Spires Business Park in Kidlington and one in Windsor, which will deal with all non-emergency calls.
The plans are part of the force's strategy to improve the service offered to telephone callers. The system has been put under pressure by the more than five million calls it receives each year. These numbers are rising, largely because of the increase in mobile phone usage.
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "We hope to have the public inquiry centres up and running by late March or the beginning of April next year, and we hope to have the control rooms live later that year."
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