The public won't be forced to accept call centre-style automated phone systems in order to contact the police, said the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).

The agency, which is funded by the Home Office and looks at what national support the police service needs, said it will ask all 43 territorial police forces to canvass opinion. How this is carried out will be up to each individual force.

A representative for the organisation told Computeractive: “An automated service would only be considered if the public expressed that it wanted to communicate with the police service in that way.

“We are interested in seeing what works best and sharing best practice among the forces so they are all able to work towards a gold standard,” he said.

The decision to look at the feasibility of automated phone systems has been taken in the light of recommendations from a National Benchmarking Exercise 2008 report commissioned by NPIA and compiled by technology consultancy Merchants.

It found that 90 per cent of people were satisfied with how the police handled contact with them but Merchant made a series of recommendations, which it said would help “develop a truly citizen-focused approach to policing”.

Many police forces across the UK, including the Metropolitan Police (the Met), already have systems for online crime reporting. To complement these, Merchant suggested that forces also incorporate automated phone systems.

This would include numbered menus to help victims to report crimes. These could be coupled with other 'self-service channels', such as internet sites with online forms, for users to give details of minor offences or report anti-social behaviour.

Merchant said this would save money and ease pressure on police control room staff. NPIA said the report had given the police service some useful insights into how it managed its contact with the public compared to other businesses in the public and private sectors.

It said the recommendations were currently an “observation” and although it had taken these suggestions into account it did not see them as a “recommendation for action” until the public had been consulted.

The Police Federation agreed. Paul McKeever, chairman of the organisation, said: “It is important that any tools introduced do not erode the unique relationship and trust held between police officers and the public.”