Dear Resident

When you need the police it’s important you’re able to get through to someone who can help you as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our 999 and 101 services enable you to do that. But what if you are deaf or hard of hearing?

Our 999 service does have a BSL interpreter service but currently our 101 service does not. However, with the enhancements coming to Saab SAFE this year that’s about to change!

From April 2024, we will be working with a company called SignVideo to enable engagement with the Deaf British Sign Language community.

This will be done via a hyperlink on the ‘Contact us’ page of our force website.

By clicking the hyperlink button, Deaf callers will be connected to one of SignVideo’s team of BSL interpreters, who will then relay the call to our contact handlers.

This hyperlink acts like a “call” button for Deaf customers and carries a unique identifier showing SignVideo the call is generated specifically to our force. The call then progresses in much the same way as a standard telephone call.

West Mercia contact handlers will not require any additional specialist equipment, training, or skills to interact with the system.

Another way for our Deaf community to contact us would be via the SignVideo App (Please see www.signvideo.co.uk/download for more information).

Here, users will be able to access the SignDirectory to find the service they want to call.

As with accessing an interpreter through the force website, a 101 call using the SignVideo App will progress in the same way as other calls. With West Mercia staff requiring no specialist equipment or training to interact with the interface.

Providing the right care and policing response to our community is so important and this should not be limited by accessibility challenges.

West Mercia Police is continuously seeking to develop our processes and systems to better enable all communities to easily access police help when it is needed.

Our recent partnership with SignVideo is a great advancement in our service offer and I hope provides a useful and important link to policing for deaf or hard of hearing communities.