Thousands of 101 calls not answered

Hundreds of thousands of calls to the recently-implemented non-emergency police phone number were not answered or met with long delays, new figures have shown.

Following Freedom of Information (FoI) requests made by the BBC, 30 of 44 forces released figures showing the average length of time a call to the 101 line took to be answered, how many were not answered and how many were acted upon within the 30-second target time.

Kent Police was the force with the quickest response time, averaging five seconds to take a call, with Merseyside Police, Northumbria Police and Suffolk Constabulary also typically answering calls in less than ten seconds. Devon and Cornwall Police answered all its calls within 30 seconds, while Cambridgeshire Constabulary (90 per cent), Hertfordshire Constabulary (91 per cent) and Thames Valley Police (91 per cent) had high percentages of calls being picked up in half a minute or less.

Of the forces providing figures, South Wales Police reported the lowest percentages of calls answered in less than 30 seconds (44 per cent). At two minutes and 45 seconds, its average response time was over 100 seconds more than the second-worst force, Northamptonshire Police, with 57 seconds.

Northamptonshire Police also recorded the highest percentage of ‘dropped’ calls (18.9 per cent), and with one caller waiting 53 minutes and 19 seconds, it also saw the longest wait.

Across the forces it was discovered the caller either hung up or was disconnected in four per cent of calls.

Steve White, vice chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said while recording crime was “extremely complex”, the figures provided cause for concern.

“These figures demonstrate that members of the public are clearly finding it more difficult to report crime,” he said.

“While the Government insists that crime is falling despite the significant cuts to the police service, the high volume of unanswered calls suggests that many offences may be going unrecorded.”

City of London Police Assistant Commissioner Ian Dyson, lead on contact management for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), said the issues with some calls should not take away from the successes of the service.

“There are huge benefits to the 101 number. It’s easy to remember, easy to dial, it’s the same number wherever you go in the UK and while it’s a national number, you get through to your local police force,” he said.

“We want to urge the public to continue to make use of 101 because since its launch over 25 million callers successfully got through to their local police force through 101 and received the appropriate response and support.

“When members of the public dial 101, they are put through to their local force which has responsibility for managing their call demand.

“Police forces are working hard locally and nationally to continuously improve their service to all callers.”

Superintendent Mick Stamper, head of Northamptonshire Police’s force control room, said the police and crime commissioner had approved of the force’s efforts to reform its service.

“We strive to answer all emergency and non-emergency calls as quickly as possible and we acknowledge there was a problem with this for a period of time last year, as reflected in these historic statistics,” he said.

“A significant change programme has taken place in the control room in the last 12 months to ensure that we manage risk to the public better and improve value for money, while at the same time maintain a high level of service for the people of Northamptonshire.”