Control room staff sacked after claims they made test calls to improve perceived performance
Two police control room staff have been dismissed after an inquiry into claims they made hundreds of fake 999 calls during quiet periods to make their response times look better.
Aug 18, 2016
By Nick Hudson
Two police control room staff have been dismissed after an inquiry into claims they made hundreds of fake 999 calls during quiet periods to make their response times look better.
The employees, members of G4S Public Services working for Lincolnshire Police, were among five suspended as part of an investigation initiated by the force over allegations of the use of `test calls` to improve perceived performance.
Two G4S employees resigned while under investigation, the firm said. They left before disciplinary hearings, which took place at the end of last month.
The fifth returned to work after being cleared of any wrongdoing.
The inquiry began in January after its anti-corruption unit received internal allegations.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was notified of the allegations by Lincolnshire Police. We kept the IPCC fully informed of our investigation which has been under their supervision, a force spokesperson said at the time.
At no stage was there been any risk to the safety of members of the public, the force maintains.
Handlers were alleged to have made hundreds of illegitimate calls in October, November and December 2015 in order to meet their target of answering 92 per cent of calls within ten seconds or less.
If the target is not met G4S is fined, and figures showed 724 calls were made across those three months.
The five suspended officers were all former Lincolnshire Police staff who transferred to G4S in 2012 when the private security company took over a £200 million contract the largest ever to run the forces back-office services for the next ten years.
G4S claimed the contract would save the force £6 million a year and it was seen as a potential model for the rest of policing in the UK.
Data for the control room seen by The Guardian showed that between January and September last year the number of 999 calls made to test the equipment were running at an average of between 30 and 40 a month and as few as eight in September.
In October the number jumped to 139, then 236 in November and peaked at 349 in December.
The figures showed that the control room received 8,153 calls in December of which 349 were test calls.
Only 89 per cent of the genuine calls were answered within the target of ten seconds, but the inclusion of the test calls pushed answering performance one percentage point above the target of 92 per cent.
Earlier this month it emerged that G4S is speaking to staff about a voluntary exit scheme for 17 out of 523 roles with Lincolnshire Police.
The firm has not ruled out making compulsory redundancies, but has insisted that they are unlikely.
Declan McGrath, G4S Managing Director for Policing, said the company remained “focused on delivering the smartest and most efficient service for Lincolnshire Police and the countys taxpayers, in line with what we promised to deliver to the force in our partnership agreement”.
Late last year Leicestershire Police, Northamptonshire Police and Nottinghamshire Police rejected an approach from G4S for a tripartite alliance of their control rooms.
The three forces had earlier commissioned G4S to carry out a feasibility study relating to the potential outsourcing of their contact management facilities.