POLICE chiefs have denied that an emergency call centre based in Bishop Auckland will disadvantage people living in the Darlington area.

Darlington will be the first police division in the south of County Durham to join up to the communications network next year.

Under the system the headquarters control room and five divisional communications rooms will be replaced by two centres, at Bishop Auckland and force headquarters in Durham.

The centres will deal will emergency 999 calls, as well as routine inquiries from the public.

Operators at the centres will be responsible for directing officers to incidents and this has concerned some people living in villages around Darlington.

At a recent meeting of Middleton St George Parish Council, members expressed concern that people in Bishop Auckland may not have enough local knowledge to make decisions about responses to incidents in Darlington.

Police officials believe that having 999 calls and general inquiries dealt with by one office will make the system quicker and more efficient.

Calls will be answered by a call handler who will give advice and decide whether a response is required.

The information will then be handed to a dispatcher, who will be responsible for a specific area.

The idea is that this dispatcher will use local knowledge to decide what resources should be sent.

Chief Inspector Terry Johnson, project manager for the review said: "A strong working relationship has always existed locally between patrolling officers and communications staff. It is absolutely essential that is not lost.

"One of the biggest tasks we face is getting the public first to understand and accept the changes.

"Closing divisional communications rooms might lead some people to mistakenly believe we will be delivering less when, in fact, we will be giving much more.

"Ultimately, people will be getting a quick and more thoroughly professional service."

He said an additional 41 officers would be released to go on patrol and there would no longer be a need for 30 officers to be on standby to cover communications officers for sickness and annual leave because more civilians would be employed.