SENIOR cops say it is “not acceptable” that people are having to wait an hour or more for non-emergency calls to be answered.
While Staffordshire Police has dramatically improved the speed with which it answers 999 calls, the timeliness of the 101 service has been getting worse since the start of the year.
In July, callers were having to wait an average of 11.5 minutes, up from an average of under eight minutes in the three months up to March.
Inspectors recently raised concerns over the force’s 101 service, in relation to both waiting times and abandonment rates.
Police and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams quizzed senior officers on the issues during the latest public performance meeting. He said during busy periods, some people could be left waiting for more than an hour for their calls to be answered.
Chief Constable Chris Noble acknowledged that improvements to the 101 service were needed. He said:
“There were two very pointed challenges from the inspection body in the report that’s just landed – one was around our response to non-emergency domestic abuse incidents, and the other one was in relation to 101.
“While we’ve made real improvements around our 999 response, which are clearly the top emergency contacts and calls, the 101 service was not where it needed to be.
“In particular the length of time people were having to wait for what could be incredibly important pieces of information, or complaints, or things they felt the police needed to be aware of. It was probably ending up with people stepping away from engaging with the police altogether, or ringing 999 when that isn’t the appropriate channel.
“In terms of abandonment rates and timeliness, we’re nowhere close to what I think is an acceptable service.”
Chief Superintendent Paul Talbot explained the various actions being taken to improve the 101 service, much of which relates to taking duties away from call-takers to allow them to answer more calls.
He said that Staffordshire Police’s call-takers currently answered one or two calls an hour on average, compared to five to six at a typical force, due to them having to carry out more processes.
Ch Supt Talbot said:
“So we are reducing those processes. We are shifting those processes elsewhere.
“We started this at the end of August and we’ve already seen an improvement in September in relation to our average times to answer, and also our effectiveness in dealing with 101 calls.”
Over the past year, Staffordshire Police has been answering 999 calls in 9.84 seconds on average, down from 15.3 seconds over the previous 12 months. Over this period 85.8% of calls were answered within the 10 second target.
Commissioner Adams said:
“I think the perception on 999 is really positive. The experience of those who call 101 and now get triaged, getting an answer within four or five minutes, is positive, and that’s over half the people calling us.
“But I’m afraid it’s the numbers when it’s busy – some wait an hour or more to pass on important information. You’re right to say it’s not acceptable, because it isn’t.
“It affects people’s confidence.”