21 September 2021
St Helena Police are currently conducting an education and awareness programme for the local community. Each week a different topic will be aired on local radio stations, issued via information releases and posted on Social Media.
This week’s topic is Making a Police Report:
We would like to take this opportunity to provide the public with information and guidelines on how reports should be made to Police. There are many occasions when members of the public refuse to give the information of a report to Police Controllers, this creates a delay in the information being provided to Police. It is important for the public to be aware that Police Controllers have been professionally trained and have the skills and knowledge to assess all reports made.
If you are making a report you must give the controller your information about the report you are making. They will ask you for relevant information such as:
- Where did the incident occur?
- How did it happen?
- What day/date/ time did it happen?
- Who was involved?
- Describe the person or property
- Are there any injuries?
There could possibly be some questions that you may think are obvious or unnecessary for you to answer, but it is important to remain patient and to answer as many questions as possible in order for the controller to carry out an accurate assessment and be in a position to pass on the information for an effective response to your report.
In the event there are follow-up questions you will be asked for your:
- Name and date of birth
- Address
- Telephone number.
These will be asked for both emergency and non-emergency reports.
The more we know, the better, as it allows a clear unaffected transmission of the data. An example of why this is important is that on-Island there is more than one person with the same name, therefore capturing your date of birth and home address will allow us to identify what person is making the report.
This is also to ensure that we have all the correct information required to pass on to the relevant person for an effective police response.
All information will be logged onto the system and evaluated based on the threat, harm and risk identified at present.
Based on this, the report will be graded whether it is immediate, priority, or can be resolved through an appointment.
This is passed on to the on-duty sergeant or relevant person who will then designate the report.
Please call 999 for emergencies and 22626 for non-emergency reports.
SHG
20 September 2021