Police information point
A Police information point (PIP) is a staffed or unstaffed place of information about local policing that are run by British police forces for the benefit of local residents.
About
Police Information Points were first introduced by Gloucestershire Police[1] in 2010 as a way of getting the public to interact with their local policing team. Today, unstaffed PIPs, (sometimes called Library Information Points),[2] are used by many police forces in the UK, and include such features as advice on crime reduction, details of the local Neighbourhood Policing Team and sometimes a message box for the local 'Beat Manager'. Staffed PIPs are run by police support volunteers (PSVs), who can direct people to local services, issue police forms to the public, receive and record lost and stolen property, and make appointments for visitors to speak to their neighbourhood officers.[3][4]
Due to being staffed by volunteers, PIPs have limited opening hours of a few hours every few days.
Police enquiry desks
Police information points are not to be confused with police enquiry desks, that are staffed by actual police officers. There are some tasks that PSVs aren't authorised to do, such as taking reports of crime, dealing with people reporting on bail, road traffic collisions and checking vehicle documents.
References
- "Police Information Point". Archived from the original on 2008-11-07. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
- "Wiltshire Police". Wiltshire.police.uk. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- "Police Information Point to be Launched in Corsham | Corsham People". Archived from the original on 2012-03-09. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
- "Volunteers man Wootton Bassett police station". This Is Wiltshire. 11 January 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2017.