Police messaging portal opens for crime victims

A new online portal allowing victims of crime to contact the officers in charge of their case for updates has been launched.

South Yorkshire Police said it hoped the National My Police Portal would improve the experience for victims and reduce the number of calls to its non-emergency 101 line.

The service will be open to victims of 19 types of crime, including burglary, fraud, violence with injury, theft, arson, and robbery.

Supt Richard Hammond said: "We recognise that overall we could do better at providing updates and this gives us a technical solution to help us do that."

The force said anyone who reports an eligible crime would be invited to sign up to the portal.

A spokesperson said the officers would then be notified when a message was sent and "reply in a timely manner".

The system has been developed by the National Police Chief's Council Digital Public Contract programme.

Hammond said: "The unique thing about this portal, it will open up the ability to have two-way messaging with their officer.

"They will be able to send messages to the officer and the officer will be able to respond to them and open up a conversation around things such as updates, any outstanding inquiries they may wish to discuss, and, overall, improve the victim experience and prevent that need to call us back on 101 just to get an update.

"We do also get a lot of repeat contact into the control room from people seeking updates for things that they have already reported, this will hopefully remove that need, which will enable our call handlers to take fresh reports."

He added that the portal was only to be seen as a "supplementary" means of communication and "doesn't stop an officer picking up the phone and speaking to somebody in person".

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