Interview with Nicole

Nicole, 21, joined Greater Manchester Police (GMP) as call handler in 2020. In February this year she secured a position as a Quality Assurance Officer. We wanted to speak to her about her 2 years as a call handler to find out more about the role and what she gained from it.

What inspired you to join GMP’s force contact centre?
I suppose I just wanted something that would feel a bit more rewarding. I’d worked in TGI Friday’s throughout my time in college and I loved working with the public, but I wanted something where I felt like I was really helping people.

What do you do on a daily basis?
This is a difficult one to answer because no two days were ever the same. The days went quickly and there was a lot of adrenaline. It can also be quite intimidating - especially when you’re just starting out. I think it’s the unknown because you come in, you put your head down and press the button and you’ve no idea what’s going to come through to you.

Ultimately though that’s what makes the job so varied and rewarding – you could get something that’s very minor or you could be helping someone on the worst day of their life.

What’s the most challenging call that you’ve had?
I once took a kidnapping call that involved a 14-year-old boy. At the time a lot of things didn’t really phase me and sometimes things didn’t feel as real as they were - probably because I was on the other end of the phone. I’ve got a younger brother though so this one felt different and was challenging to deal with. The boy was returned to his family so this one had a positive outcome thankfully.

Do you always know the outcome of the calls you respond to?
No and that can be very hard to deal with especially when it’s been a challenging call and you’d like to know the outcome. That’s just the way it is though - officers land on the scene and you have to leave it in their hands and move on to the next call.

It’s important to switch off at the end of the day and not take your work home with you. If you’ve had a particularly difficult day though its important to talk to your colleagues and your supervisor. There’s no one else you can speak to who understands quite like your colleagues because they’re all dealing with the same things.

What’s the best thing about the role?
It’s so exciting because it’s something different everyday and you get to speak to so many different people from different walks of life. I was really young when I went into the role, and I’ve learned so much from just speaking to people and dealing with all sorts of incidents. You learn so much.

What did you learn about yourself as a call handler?
That I’m resilient – I think that’s the thing about this role it takes a certain kind of person who can take everything on board and deal with it. You must trust yourself and have confidence in yourself to make decisions that could save someone’s life. It can be difficult at first, but you’ll find your confidence grows the longer you’re in the role.

After 2 years were you still surprised by some of the calls that came in?
Every day there would be something that would surprise me. You have people who’ve worked here for 20 years, and they’ll still get a call where they’re stumped. It’s often the non-emergency calls that stump you more.

What advice would you give someone?
I suppose it would be don’t take anything home with you. Always talk about the difficult calls - give yourself some time and get it off your chest. There is support here and the worst thing you can do is keep it bottled up.

GMP Force Contact Centre is currently recruiting. If you want to be part of something bigger and help save lives, apply now: Force Contact Centre | Greater Manchester Police (gmp.police.uk)