Greater Manchester Police become the first UK force to achieve Customer Contact Association Global Standard V4© Accreditation.

The superintendent in charge of call handling, Karan Lee, explained why this process of formal recognition was important to the force.

"Since I have joined the branch I have reiterated time and time the need to professionalise each role; to recognise the value of our staff in a more formal manner and most importantly, for others to see what our call handlers do every day,” she said.

”We scanned numerous companies that offer accreditation services for organisations such as ours, but it wasn't about signing up to just anybody; we wanted a company that could prove to us that they had the right pedigree: providing a challenge for us that was not just another tick-box process for us to follow. The CCA has proved to us that they are the best on a global level."

Gaining the CCA accreditation means a commitment on behalf of the Operational Communications Branch and individuals to the excellent standard GMP aspire to, not just in the UK but also internationally.

“The work we do in the OCB as an emergency services call centre is unique, unlike any other call centre in the public or private sector,” explained Supt Lee.

“Every call is different in nature yet equally important to both the caller and us. We are not selling a product, the people that call us would probably prefer not to. We can say all day long how difficult it is, how hard we work and how good we are. However to be recognised by the public and private sector,  accreditation will provide us with true recognition of what we do and achieve.”

The process began last year, with Supt Lee and others visiting the CCA to understand the accreditation process. The superintendent then set up workshops (including front line staff) to do 'gap analysis' and prepare for the actual inspection, where the CCA looked at every aspect of the work that the branch do. This meant from people to technology, process and policy – listening to calls, examining procedures and talking to as many people as possible to find the evidence that proved that the branch and the force deserved the accreditation.

“Seeing ourselves throughout this whole process gave us a sense of pride; to watch how we developed and rose to the challenges that faced us throughout the accreditation process was one of the most important things we learnt from this.”

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