Callers to police stations could soon be talking to someone in India as forces are now allowed to privatise their call centres. Police across the country are privatising their call centres and backroom staff in a bid to cut costs. The Government has been forced to relax the rules to allow forces to sign contracts with private companies, including foreign ones as there is a massive cash shortage. This means that police will be able to use Indian call centres to deal with routine police inquiries. Currently all civilian support staff are employed by the police. Over the next year as many as 20000 civilians will be transferred to private companies but some jobs could go overseas. The computer giant IBM is the first private company to have secured a deal. It has signed a £400 million contract with Avon and Somerset Police. The 999 service will not be affected by the changes.