Northern Ireland

Only one police force meeting 999 response targets, data shows

The PSNI's mean time was 9.7 seconds and it answered 76 per cent of calls in under 10 seconds
The PSNI's mean time was 9.7 seconds and it answered 76 per cent of calls in under 10 seconds The PSNI's mean time was 9.7 seconds and it answered 76 per cent of calls in under 10 seconds

ONLY one police force in Britain and Northern Ireland is meeting a target to answer 90 per cent of 999 calls in under 10 seconds, new data has shown.

Avon and Somerset Police was the only force to meet the standard, according to national statistics released for the first time by the Home Office.

Forty-three forces failed to meet it over the six months from November 2021 to April 2022.

Overall, 71 per cent of 999 calls were answered within 10 seconds.

Humberside Police were the worst, achieving just 2 per cent. South Yorkshire Police answered 17 per cent on time, Durham Police 41, North Yorkshire 44 and Gloucestershire 49.

Police Scotland aim to have a mean answering time of under 10 seconds, and recorded 10.1 over the period.

The PSNI's mean time was 9.7 seconds and it answered 76 per cent of calls in under 10 seconds, with a further 23 per cent between 10 and 60 seconds.

The National Police Chiefs' Council lead for contact management, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd, said a lag in connecting calls can contribute to waits but that "this isn't for a member of public to resolve".

"We want the public to have access to the data as part of policing being open and transparent," he added.

"This is the first time police forces and the public have been able to see the time it takes to answer 999 calls from the call being made by the public, it being connected to the police by BT and local providers, to it being answered by police call handlers."

The Association for Police and Crime Commissioners local policing leads Alison Hernandez and Jeff Cuthbert said the data shows "the demand for policing and the volume of calls".

"Police and Crime Commissioners are committed to supporting excellence in policing and will use this data to continually drive forward improvements and hold the police to account on behalf of the public," they added.

It comes after the BBC reported that freedom of information requests obtained from 22 police forces in England and Wales suggested officers are now 28 per cent slower to attend Grade 1 emergencies.

This equates to taking three minutes longer on average to arrive at serious incidents.

The BBC said responses from 19 forces in England and Wales suggested they were 44 per cent slower to arrive at serious incidents than in 2013.

The broadcaster also reported that the number of recorded crimes leading to a charge or court summons for a perpetrator fell for the last seven consecutive years, up to March 2021. Between 2015 and 2021 it fell by 40 per cent.