POLICE and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan has visited North Yorkshire Police’s Force Control Room in York to announce a £3 million upgrade.

Mrs Mulligan said the investment in the new room, next to the current site behind York police station, which was reported first in The Press yesterday, would cut the time taken to handle 101 and 99 calls.

There would be 32 new full-time staff recruited and new training and tutoring facilities, and the cost would be met from extra money raised by an increased police precept.

Mrs Mulligan said there had been a 20 per cent increase in calls to the police and she personally suspected this was due at least in part to cuts to other public services.

She said there were also fluctuations in the number of calls according to the time of the day or the year, with a rise in the summer, for example when race meetings were staged.