We know police love the get-tough approach, but the Eastern Police Division is trying to transform its headquarters into a customer friendly environment. A workshop was held on Customer care for 20 police officers today at the Raccoon Street Police station. Instead of learning about suppression techniques or weapons handling, they got training in topics such as effective communication skills, front desk management and job etiquette. Courtney Weatherburne found out more:..
Courtney Weatherburne reporting
Usually the focus of a gathering of police officers such as this would be on weighty matters such as crime control and follow up meetings on ongoing cases.
But that was not the focus of today's gathering. These officers are participating in a Customer Care and Front Desk Services Training.
Douglas Hyde, Police Press Officer
"The idea of the training is to better their skills, of course their approach, their public relation when dealing with the general public when they walk in and these officers who are participating in this two days training are the front line workers. These are the persons when any person walk within the precincts or headquarters here, these are the persons that they will see."
But it's not only the public that will benefit from improved customer service. The accused persons that these officers come in contact with on a regular basis should also see improvements in how they are treated.
WPC Shirley Villacorte, Queen Street Police Station
"Pretty much it will assist us in know how to better deal with them, calm them down and have a better communication with them, instead of roughing them up. With this workshop it will enhance us in a way that we will be able to cope with them in a much friendly and be more 
ethical and so forth."
John Myvett, Special Constable
"It's not going to be difficult because we at the department we are here to adjust and to relay to people in all aspects and all manners, treat people with respect and respect is a two way street to everybody, not only yourself."
Apart from these behavioral and customer service shifts, the physical layout of the headquarters has also been upgraded to reflect revised service based outlook.
Douglas Hyde, Police Press Officer
"So we look at training the person, but also changing the environment and coming next week we will look at the different areas, the precincts likewise headquarters here at Raccoon Street in changing the front desk and it's called the lobby - more or less than when people walks within the precincts or the headquarters, they see not only that person, but also the environment changes - the whole atmosphere likewise and we hope that these approaches are to better our public relation, but also give better services to the general public. We hope at the ending of these trainings that we run is that the participants will better understand the importance of their job and likewise the service that they provide to the general public."
THE workshop continues tomorrow.
Email
Print