One of the other factors resulting in the reduction of service to Officers on the ground, was the removal of the ability of those Officers to contact the Air Crew directly, even if they could physically see one of the Fleet passing overhead ! Prior to NPAS commencing, the Midlands Regional forces ( West Midlands, West Mercia, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicester and Warwickshire ) had ALL of their Officers Airwave Radios ( no longer limited geographically like the previous UHF and VHF radio systems ) programmed with a single Air Unit "Hailing Channel", ( Known as "Talkgroup 88" ) which each of the four Midlands Air Unit crews ( West Midlands, Central Counties, North Midlands and East Midlands ) would monitor both at Base, and while airborne, and liaise using it. All requests were assessed by those Duty Air Crews and a response ( where appropriate ) was agreed and provided by the nearest available aircraft. This was extremely efficient, provided a fast response, and inspired confidence in those "end users". NPAS removed that facility and required all requests to be routed to their new Control Room, meaning that an Officer on the Ground had to : Alert their own Control Room and provide details of the requirement, that local Control room had to forward the request to the NPAS Control Room, the Task request had to be analysed and vetted by someone at the NPAS Control Room to determine if the request was viable. If it was the NPAS Control room staff had to assess which was the nearest / most suitable aircraft to deploy to the scene, then contact the relevant Air Unit, pass details of the request, location etc. to them and deploy them, as well as arranging / advising on the Communications to be used. THEN the Aircraft would deploy to the incident. This obviously created an additioanl delay in the end response, a delay that was NOT factored in to the original plans and "20 minute response circles" sold to the UK Police forces, which made a flawed assumption that at the moment of any request for Air Support, the Aircraft that ( might ) be deployed, was already travelling at 120 Knots ! This inevitable delay resulted in Officers on the ground losing confidence that if they requested Air Support they would receive it in a timley manner, and quickly enough to be effective. Often Officers did not / do not bother to call, due to a perception / the reality that it would usually take too long for the response to be of any benefit. NPAS of course can demonstrate how they have "improved effectiveness" by reducing the demand for Air Support. <Banging Head on the Wall Emoji ).