POLICE hope that a dedicated team on hand at a new helpdesk at Warrington Police Station will be able to speed things up for the public.

A team of 10 specially-trained staff will man the help desk and process crime reports, traffic collisions and lost property.

They will also be able to issue crime numbers to the public.

A helpdesk police officer will be at the ready to investigate lines of inquiry straight away.

Helpdesk supervisor, Karen Smethurst, told the Guardian: "The idea is to speed up our response to the public and free up more police officers so they are out on the street where they are required.

"We now have a dedicated team and we can do all these things on a one to one basis."

The helpdesk operates between 8am and 10pm seven days a week.