95,000 non-emergency calls to West Midlands Police go unanswered

On average people calling 101 are kept waiting nearly four minutes to be connected to a call handler .

New figures showed the average waiting time for a 101 call to be connected between April and September was three minutes and 50 seconds. The average time for a 999 call to be answered was 12 seconds.

A total of 94,917 calls to 101 were abandoned during the five-month period, which likely included people who were fed-up at waiting to be connected - almost 600 a day on average. Some 6,624 emergency calls were abandoned.

Police advise people to call 101 if they are not in need of emergency assistance, so as not to take up the time of 999 call handlers unnecessarily. This can often include reports of so-called low-level crime, such as burglaries and car thefts.

People are also increasingly being encouraged to contact police online.

The figures showed a huge discrepancy in the number of 101 calls being abandoned, despite there not being a big difference in average 999 and 101 calls to the force each day.

Responded

On average, West Midlands Police received 1,950 emergency calls and 2,294 non-emergency calls each day.

It suggests large numbers of non-emergency callers are giving up because of the length of time they are being kept waiting to be connected.

Chief Superintendent Richard Fisher, head of Force Contact, said: “We have increased the number of calls we are able to resolve at this first point of contact from 70 per cent to 75 per cent, and increasing use of Live Chat and online reporting is reflected in the abandoned calls to 101, as many members of the public will have responded to our voice recognition and messaging on our phone system which alerts them to other options open to them.

“We’re continuing to work hard to ensure we maintain the service we provide to our communities during these difficult and unprecedented times, recognising the impacts the different measures have on people and ensuring we prioritise the most serious calls for policing.

“We still receive a significant number of emergency and non-emergency calls which turn out to not be police matters or don’t require a police response.

“If you are reporting a non-emergency matter. Our advice is always - if it’s not 999 then go online for advice, and the ability to live chat with our staff."

For more information visit west-midlands.police.uk