A Police Information Point (or PIP) is a manned or unmanned place of information about local policing that are run by British police forces for the benefit of local residents.
Contents
About
Police Information Points were first introduced by Gloucestershire Police 10 years ago as a way of getting the public to interact with their local policing team. Today, unmanned PIP's, (sometimes called Library Information Points), are used by many police forces in the UK, and include such features as advice on crime reduction, details of the local Neighbourhood Policing Team and sometimes a message box for the local 'Beat Manager'. Manned PIP's are staffed by Police Support Volunteers, who can direct people to local services, issue police forms to the public, receive and record lost and stolen property, and make appointments for visitors to speak to their neighbourhood officers.
Due to being staffed by volunteers, PIP's have limited opening hours of a few hours every few days.
Disambiguation
Police Information Points are not to be confused with Police Enquiry Desks, that are staffed by actual police officers. There are some tasks that PSV's aren't authorised to do, such as taking reports of crime, dealing with people reporting on bail, road traffic collisions and checking vehicle documents.