THE chairman of Cheshire Police Authority has been checking up on how the police respond to 999 and non-emergency calls.

The department responsible for dealing with these calls have been implimenting new strategies to ensure calls are dealt with quickly and in the right way.

Chairman Margaret Ollerenshaw said: “I was delighted to find major improvements when I visited the constabulary call management department recently.

“Authority members often used to hear people complain that their calls were not answered or that the person taking the call did ot understand the local area.

Now they are using a new mapping system, which has improved response.

Staff who work in the department now receive support to deal with the stresses of the job.

A customer service desk has been introduced as one of the measures to make sure people are able to follow up their calls.