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Suffolk Constabulary’s non-emergency digital response system has marked its first anniversary, with thousands of residents choosing to contact the force online rather than pick up the phone.
Launched in March 2024 and operating daily from 7am to 10pm, the Digital Public Contact Engagement Desk – known as the Digi Desk – was set up to improve access for people who prefer to reach out outside of traditional working hours. Over the past 12 months, the team has triaged 90% of social media enquiries within minutes and responded to more than 15,000 Live Chat messages, typically within 11 seconds.
The Digi Desk also handles online forms submitted through the Suffolk Police website, manages emails from partner agencies, and monitors both comments and direct messages on the force’s Facebook and X pages. While not a formal crime reporting route, it provides advice and support for general, non-urgent concerns.
Since April 2024, the desk has dealt with more than 11,000 website interactions and earned a 93% user satisfaction score from surveyed members of the public.
“Technology is a vital component in how we communicate with the public but this is also about our highly skilled and trained people because we know how important it is to answer a call as quickly as possible. We are now more flexible, responsible and efficient – vital when demand has been growing across the county.”
“We also want to make ourselves more accessible for those who are hard of hearing or speech-impaired and extend our hours of availability on Live Chat – which automatically translates up to 100 languages – to improve our service to those where English is not their first language.”
Eamonn Bridger, Assistant Chief Constable.
The introduction of the Digi Desk forms part of a wider transformation of Suffolk’s Contact and Control Room, backed by a £1.2m investment from the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner. That funding has also helped improve emergency call handling, with the force now answering over 90% of 999 calls within the national target of 10 seconds – up from 73% in October 2022.
Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore said the investment was paying off: “The Digi Desk is now firmly established and is allowing the public to engage with the Constabulary for non-emergency enquiries in the format that suits them best.”
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