Ok guys, be as jealous as you like! Last Friday night I had a fascinating experience, with a visit from 10pm until 2am to an amazing contact centre – the Police Northern Communications Centre which takes the 111 emergency calls.
I was lucky to get in there through my role on the Board of the Telecommunications Carriers Forum which does a bit of work with the emergency services and issued an invitation. It helps us to understand the issues they have around call clarity, CLI and others.
This is, indeed, a classic contact centre. Just like any other it has the purpose built furniture, the screens showing real time call handling statistics, and a zillion people huddled inside their headsets.
Where it differs from most is in the subject matter. Customers are stressed – very. Some are in physical danger. Others are rather dodgy characters. A few are “all of the above.”
First call resolution is non-negotiable. This is one environment where “I’ll look into that and ring you back tomorrow” won’t wash. Nor will a recorded message saying “sorry our staff are all busy, we expect to be able to answer your call in 45 minutes.” Banks and phone companies, please take note.
Those characteristics aside however, it had a sense of great familiarity. Smart, dedicated staff with a great sense of energy. Despite the pressure, people there seem to love their work.
There are two distinct parts – the people who take the inbound calls, and the dispatchers who control the response. I spent half the night with each. There’s a code of confidentiality around the visits so I can’t be very specific in this report.
Sitting alongside the inbound call takers was an insight into the seamier side of Auckland. It was mid evening. I started to wonder whether I was the only person in Auckland not embroiled in a domestic incident. All the callers I listened to were women; all were under threat from male partners or husbands. And I would guess that 99% of the callers were slurring words themselves. Some were obviously rotten drunk.
The operators responded with great clarity and professionalism. Every “domestic” gets a priority one which means a visit, because of the potential for escalation. “We’re on your way, keep away from him and stay calm” was the standard response – all this after names of all parties were recorded, databases checked, and entries logged.
There were a couple of accident reports. One sounded very genuine to me. It was from a young guy in a rural area – he sounded totally freaked and had just come across a two car accident which looked really, really bad – “there’s nobody moving, man, you’ve got to send help for me.” Then his battery apparently died. I was sucked in. But the operator was deeply suspicious. A hoax, she thought. Sure enough a few minutes later calls started coming in about a big gathering of boy racers some distance across the way. Hoax calls to draw the cops away from such a scene are part of the normal process; operators get to recognise the signs.
Then there were burglaries, prowlers, and vandalism. All in a night’s work. All stressed callers desperate for help, reassurance and immediate advice on what to do right this moment.
On the other side of the floor, my time with the dispatchers was even more eventful. By now it was past midnight, and I was sitting with an operator working a provincial city area. Can’t say too much about the detail.
There was a serious pursuit. Several cars involved, road spikes, police dogs, and eventually an arrest assisted by a by-passer. The incident ran for an hour or more, with a satisfactory conclusion. Then a coincidence – a report came in about a group of youths damaging bus shelters nearby. After being disturbed by a member of the public, they ran away across a park to escape - right into the arms of the cops who were just tidying up after the earlier chase. How unlucky is that?
There were people being ferried back to the cells for a night’s rest.
The dispatchers have pretty cool equipment at hand – detailed maps of every area north of Taupo so they can advise the mobile units which intersections to block off or tell them the location of walkways. The maps have satellite photo overlays. (One operator, tracking a caller on a satellite photo, once asked him “are you near the two big trees” and got the response “yes, can you see me waving?” Sorry, its not quite that hi-tech – yet!
They’ve got instant access to databases of vehicle registrations and individuals. If a drama occurs such as a chase there’s always an officer close by in the room who can step in, monitor the event and give instructions.
Most of the centre staff are civilians. They’re very savvy, highly skilled and trained, and very committed. Stress aside, there’s plenty of good humour – these people seem to love their work.
I’ve been lucky over the years to sample quite a range of contact centres. This one is unique, in many ways. Unsociable hours notwithstanding, it was one of the best experiences this year so far. Stress aside, it sure beats selling time shares or tickets on the TAB.
A big thank you to Superintendent Kelvin Powell and his dedicated team for a valuable and fascinating experience.