Star comment: Police 101 figures very troubling
For many years people have long been suspicious of police crime figures.
Indeed many business leaders in the region have admitted they don’t even bother to report crimes because they believe they are wasting their time and energy.
And you can see why.
And police chiefs have admitted they have no idea if those people called back or what they were calling about.
Given that the hugely-publicised number is promoted nationally as being the public’s main way of contacting their local police force, these figures are extremely troubling.
We have every sympathy for West Midlands Police. Calls are at record numbers and, as we have previously reported, crime is going up.
And at the same time they have lost staff because of cuts.
But this doesn’t show the whole picture.
There are many well-intentioned procedures and policies introduced by bodies such as the College of Policing and the Government which are bureaucratic and drain resources.
Take Sarah’s Law and Clare’s Law, for example. Both were introduced to allow concerned members of the public to check whether a new partner had a history of domestic violence or child sex abuse.
Both have a lot of merit but in practice what we are seeing is that a single inquiry can take one call handler out for more than two hours.
That has a huge impact on the flow of 999 and 101 calls for the force contact centre.
For a long time now West Midlands Police has struggled to get a grip on the emerging 101 scandal.
It is clear people are losing confidence in the system and the burning issue here is that crime is going unreported.
We don’t for one minute blame those call handlers for this crisis.
It is becoming more evident that this is a systemic failure and one that looks doomed to fail.
Delays in some alternative ways of contacting the force or requesting help is also exasperating the problem.
For the sake of the public we urge senior officers at West Midlands Police to find a speedy resolution.
