CRIME victims who contact police in North Yorkshire are being called back later - to see if they are happy with the response.

The move is part of a series of measures by the force to improve customer service and accessibility, outlined in a report by the Inspectorate of Constabulary.

The report says the introduction of a county-wide non-emergency contact number - 0845 60 60 247 - has resulted in a significant rise in the number of calls to the force from the public.

But improvements in call management meant the force was performing well in relation to its targets.

The force is also developing public access to the police through email and text messaging.

The report said the centres that are handling calls from the public employed quality assurance officers.

Part of their role is to carry out cold calls to "customers", to ask for their views on the service they received when contacting the police.

The force's head of public access, Superintendent Dave Coutts, said that while some people complained, the calls received a generally positive response.

He said other measures to ensure that callers received a high-quality response were being made.

Such measures include supervisors listening to tapes of calls, selected at random, at the rate of three per month per member of staff, to check they were handling calls courteously and giving out appropriate information and advice.

The call centres are based at police headquarters at Newby Wiske and at York police station. They are manned by civilian support staff working with police officers.