Rise in 999 calls being dealt with by Staffordshire Police

The online reporting service, launched earlier this year on the force’s website, is just one of the actions taken to help respond more quickly to calls, alongside bringing in a triage service and recruiting more contact centre staff.

A report presented to a police performance meeting on Wednesday said: “The number of 999 calls the force receives is continuing to increase, with the force now receiving an average of 61 more calls each day compared to 12 months ago – 999 call volume has increased by eight per cent (16,529) in the last 12 months compared to the previous year.

Despite this, over the last three months the force has answered 84 per cent of all 999 calls in less than 10 seconds, putting it in 15th place for 999 answering times out of 43 forces nationally.

The report added: “The force is also receiving 138 additional 101 calls each day. Since the implementation of our triage programme, which looks at where calls should be most appropriately dealt with, the force are seeing answering times improve.”

Staffordshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams raised the issue at Wednesday’s meeting of the extra demand and number of calls being received. But he added: “We’re making some progress on contact which is really welcome.

“I’m conscious of the complexity of calls and the work you do around identifying vulnerability – it means you’re spending longer on calls. We’re not top 10 yet but we are close in some respects and we’re certainly moving up the table compared to others who face the same pressures.

“I think it’s important to reflect not just on the year-on-year increase but just how significantly different – particularly 999 – numbers are compared to before Covid. Technology investment has been made, we’ve got triage in place, there are new processes and we’re going to need even more people too because this extra demand is not going away.”

Chief Constable Chris Noble said: “The police contact centre is slightly different to ones you would see in other organisations.

"In other organisations it’s measured by speed in which you pick up the call or customer satisfaction at the end; from a policing point of view it’s all those things, and then on occasions you could be dealing with someone at a life or death moment and we’ve got to get that judgement call right.

“It’s really encouraging, despite an increase of nearly 4,500 calls compared to the previous three months, that we’re consistently answering them. At the minute, on average, we’re in and around the 12-second mark (for answering 999 calls) albeit more often significantly quicker.

“The fact we have been able to improve our timeliness is a testament to the leadership in that contact centre and the fact we’re bringing in new staff. Many more people want to join us – nearly 400 people have expressed an interest and nearly 50 passed the assessment process so we’ve got plans to keep investing people into that contact centre going forwards.”