MORE than 5,000 residents have applied for a home visit from the police after the launch of an ‘investigation-by-appointment’ service.

An experimental Durham Constabulary scheme in which residents can book a pre-arranged home visit from officers was launched in East Durham and Darlington in the autumn.

The seven-days-a-week scheme, which was seen as an alternative to drop-in surgeries in local police stations, has now seen more than 5,000 appointments made and research has shown nine out of ten users are happy with the service.

Inspector Joanne Turnbull, project manager, said: "The ‘by appointment’ service has exceeded our expectations and proved to be tremendously effective."

She added: "There have been remarkably few teething problems with its introduction and the use of the cars is easing pressure on frontline officers, allowing them to concentrate on emergency or priority calls.

Over the next financial year it is expected the force-wide fleet of eleven vehicles will be available for up to 40,000 pre-arranged calls.

Superintendent John Bell, the force’s head of communications, said: "Sometimes people have unrealistic expectations of how soon officers can be there.

"But the appointment system makes a huge difference as they can now plan ahead knowing that the police will be there on a nominated day and time.

"It has also greatly reduced the number of repeat calls our handlers used to get, from people who were waiting for the police to arrive."