Norfolk police could stop responding to some types of calls in order to free up more time for officers to patrol on the beat, the crime commissioner has said.

Giles Orpen-Smellie said the range of calls to police was being examined to identify those that are “not core policing business”.

Eastern Daily Press: Norfolk PCC Giles Orpen-Smellie has made visible policing his top priorityNorfolk PCC Giles Orpen-Smellie has made visible policing his top priority (Image: Jason Bye)

One in five 999 and 101 calls in Norfolk relate to people with mental health issues.  

While officers would continue to respond to high-priority 999 calls, Norfolk could implement partnership agreements with NHS agencies who deal with mental health call outs based on a model pioneered by Humberside police.

A mental health emergency response service and drop-in centres could also be expanded.

It aims to ease time-consuming pressures on frontline officers rather than “saying not our problem”, Mr Orpen-Smellie told a meeting of the county’s crime and police panel.

Eastern Daily Press: One in five calls to Norfolk police relate to mental health issuesOne in five calls to Norfolk police relate to mental health issues (Image: Newsquest)

Officers should not be spending up to 14 hours with mental health patients and on low-priority missing person calls, he added. 

The PCC said freeing up more officers to patrol local communities was now his top priority after it was ranked highest among public priorities.

“The nature of modern crime means that much police work goes on outside the public’s view,” he said. 

“There is also an issue of increasing public demand concurrent with police resources being squeezed. 

“That results in the finite number of officers being stretched very thinly as they respond to one call after another with an inevitable impact of routine patrolling.”

Eastern Daily Press: Police responded to thousands of low priority missing people calls last yearPolice responded to thousands of low priority missing people calls last year (Image: Newsquest)

Gordon Bambridge, Conservative county councillor for Upper Wensum, told the PCC: “People are telling me in my villages, and I represent 16 in the middle of Norfolk, that they do not see the police. This is an area that you should be concentrating on.”

Mr Orpen-Smellie admitted the closure of police stations and the scrapping of PCSOs in 2017 had also resulted in a “degree of separation” of police from local communities.

“I’m clear that there is a need for a new focus on visible policing,” he added.