The Commissioner and Chief Constable Martin Jelley discussing progress on the new OCC with representatives of Place Partnership.
Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe says he is pleased to see good progress on work to build a new control room and call centre for Warwickshire Police.
The Commissioner visited Neville House on the Warwick Technology Park recently to see for himself the work to refurbish and refit the building as the force’s new Operations Communications Centre (OCC). When completed, Neville House will replace the current OCC at the force’s former Leek Wootton headquarters, complete with state-of-the-art technology to assist call handlers as they take emergency and non-emergency calls from the public.
Contractors have now largely completed the initial preparatory works on the building and surrounding land, stripping out the fixtures and fittings from its former use as a data centre for a major IT company, as well as completing external landscaping work. Work is now beginning in earnest to complete the purpose-designed facility and equip it with new and sophisticated call handling and deployment technology. The construction and enabling works are expected to be completed by the end of the year, with the new technology set to go live in 2018.
Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe said: “It’s been an interesting meeting and it’s the first opportunity I’ve had to visit for several months. Things are clearly moving on well and the contractors, I’m told, are on time and on budget.
“The building is now stripped out, so you can see easily the space we are going to get. There’s still some planning to be done about the final layout and who goes where, but overall I think this will be a terrific addition for the force, to have their own control room here in Warwick.
“When it opens, the new OCC will mark another significant step forward in meeting the pledge I made in my Police and Crime Plan to deliver a modernised and efficient police force. The officers and staff based at Neville House will enjoy the very best of facilities and equipment to be able to ensure that when people contact Warwickshire Police, they are dealt with efficiently and effectively, with the most appropriate resources used to meet their call for assistance.”
See more on progress in the video below.
