Call police on 101... and wait 51 seconds
THOUSANDS of people are hanging up because they are fed up of waiting for police to answer calls reporting crimes or anti-social behaviour.
Around one in 10 of the 31,000-plus callers a month to the new 101 non-emergency number ring off because the average time it takes for the force to pick up has more than trebled in a year.
The national system was brought in for people to make less urgent calls than for 999 emergencies.
Its remit is for the public to report incidents such as car thefts, property damage, suspected drug dealing, minor road crashes and general low level criminal activity.
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But latest figures issued under the Freedom of Information Act show the average wait time for the control room to answer soared from 15 seconds in November 2011 to 50.9 seconds in October last year.
Only 700 of the 28,190 callers hung up during the first month covered by the data but that had risen to 3,122 out of 31,163 people dialling 101 in October 2012. The delays have forced urgent action by the force which says in the first two months of this year the wait fell to an average of 40 seconds.
Now neighbourhood watch leaders in North Staffordshire are to raise the poor performance with senior police officers at the next of their regular meetings.
Tony Worthington, vice-chairman of the Staffordshire Moorlands Watch and chairman of the Biddulph and District Neighbourhood Watch, said: "It is of real concern if so many people are hanging up rather than reporting a crime because of these delays.
"The 0300 number used to work well – but now before you are put through you have to listen to an automated message from the chef constable saying how important your call is.
"We will be raising this urgently with the police and also ask our members for any experiences of problems they may have had."
Brian Jones, chairman of the Stoke-on Trent forum of residents' associations, told how it took him four minutes to get through to police after a recent attempt to break into his Meir home.
He said: "The process is so long-winded now and you have to pay 11p for each call.
"An a play area locally, youngsters have called 101 to report people trying to sell them drugs but then hang up after waiting four or five minutes with no reply."
Superintendent Dave Forrest, head of operational services for Staffordshire Police, said: "We always aim to answer calls as quickly as possible and have a target of answering 999 emergency calls within 10 seconds and 101 non-emergency calls within 30 seconds. Our latest customer surveys show 97 per cent of people who call us are satisfied with the ease of contact they have. Our priority is to provide the best possible service to the communities of Staffordshire."
8 Comments
by backdoorsteve
Monday, March 11 2013, 8:27PM
“I suppose a centralised, and, predictably inefficient system like 101 is the inevitable result of the local police stations (and local phone numbers) removed by New Labour. I remember the first time they did this, in the late 90's, and I tried ringing, and trying to explain to the civilian call centre operator exactly where the trouble was. It was obvious she was staring at some sort of computer, trying to pinpoint the address I was describing, but she could 'find' the place on her 'screen'. Local policing should be done by local officers. These central call centres, in Birmingham, Stafford, or goodness-knows where, can never work properly as long as the person you talk to is a stranger to your area.”
by greyguitar
Sunday, March 10 2013, 3:16PM
“And let's be honest, that's exactly how they want it. If you hang up, it's not a reported crime which = better crime figures. All they're interested in are the promotion/commendation earning big cases like murder or drug busts where they can dress like Starship Troopers and batter down some poor potheads door.”
by Backdoored
Saturday, March 09 2013, 10:18PM
“In the past few weeks a couple of alkies, aged in their late 30s -early 40s, have taken up drinking strong 'canned' lager -at a spot 'out of site' from windows, adjacent to old people's bungalows.
Each day as I pass by I have noticed the pile of cans they chuck by the side of a bush, (with some cans -casually dropped on the grass) increase in size. Their visits must be sporadic because I've only seen them standing there a couple of times. I must add, that on the two occasions I have seen them, they were 'steady on their feet, and just said a quiet 'hello' as I went by.
However, the 'eyesore' is getting worse. So the other day when noticing the growing pile, I decided to give Mike Cunningham a ring.
"Hello! Welcome to Staffordshire Police... this is Chief Constable Mike Cunningham; it's important to me that we direct your call to the most appropriate department; please listen carefully to the following options..." Unquote.
So, after explaining the reason for my call.. (not to Mike Cunningham -he only does the 'answer-phone' bit of course... you know, the personal touch -'the buck stops with me' kind of thing.... And I like that actually -makes him sound as though he's genuinely caring about looking after us all)... but to a lower ranked Policeman... He listened carefully to what I had to say and then advised me thus:-
The next time you see them there, drinking from the cans, 'take a 'photograph of them with your mobile 'phone -and then ring us -and we'll get a patrol car there asap". unquote.
'Shall I ask them to smile for the camera?' -I nearly joked. But in regard to the latter, I did mention the inherent danger in that procedure; i.e. if they saw me taking a photo of them, and then a few minutes later a cop car turned up.... 2 + 2 wouldn't make 5.
I'd have to go the long way round to catch my bus. Could have been worse expected of me.... Could have asked me to take their finger-prints.”
by Backdoored
Saturday, March 09 2013, 9:39PM
“by jokerjohnny
"Its the tories fault,bring back Brown and Blair.More jobs and less crime."
Whatever happened to Pig-Pen Gary?
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/beb4ltd
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by jokerjohnny
Saturday, March 09 2013, 9:06PM
“Its the tories fault,bring back Brown and Blair.More jobs and less crime.”
by pj123
Saturday, March 09 2013, 1:44PM
“Hey it makes the crime figures go down ?
Smoke and mirrors.
Real speak "LIES".”
by FFDP1
Saturday, March 09 2013, 11:22AM
“If someone was trying to sell me drugs, I'd ring 999, s#!t hot like to, or if some trip hound was trying to break in my house. What are they going to do, sue you.”
by Robnoxious
Saturday, March 09 2013, 10:22AM
“The idiots from the city council only 2 days ago, on this site , TUNSTALL COMMUNITY
ACTION PROGRAM, were stating reporting anti- social behaviour had dropped 35% within
the program. INITIATIVE ?
With due RESPECT, OF MANY THINGS THAT ARE TRULY LACKING, WITH MANY OF THE LABOUR COUNCILLORS. TRUTH. LIES. INITIATIVE. The only truth being the HALF TRUTH.
But what this does go show,that these people,are trying to pull the wool over our eyes, and that they don't live in the real world.
AGAIN TRYING TO MASSAGE THE FIGURES.
We all know what is going on, we don't need to be told it. PEOPLE ARE GIVING UP. It's called using
your initiative, nothing is changing outside your 4 walls. This Labour council has to take some
responsibility for this. THEY GIVE THE PEOPLE OF THIS CITY NO HOPE AND NO SAY.
As someone told me the other day when phoning and reporting anti-social behaviour, after
explaining the situation was told by the person at the other end of the phone, again concerning
teenagers, WELL, THAT'S WHAT TEENAGERS DO.
As like everything else in the city, WHO CARES ABOUT THE VULNERABLE ?
YOU WONDER WHY THEY GIVE UP.
But no doubt they will come on here and say it is a police matter,
TO SHIRK THEIR RESPONSIBILITY IN ANYTHING. AGAIN.
But never mind, just phone the FIRE BRIGADE.”