More than 5,000 emergency calls to Staffordshire Police over festive period

From Friday, December 23, to Tuesday, January 3, a total of 5,438 calls were made to the force's 999 service.

The average wait time for people calling 999 was 8.87 seconds and 91 per cent of calls were answered in under 10 seconds.

A total of 4,953 non-emergency 101 calls were received and answered in an average of 83 seconds.

Head of contact command and control, Superintendent Paul Talbot, said: "Christmas and the New Year period is always a very busy time for the emergency services.

"As this was the first time in three years that the public had been able to celebrate the festive season without any Covid-19 related restrictions, we expected to see a high number of calls.

"Thankfully due to the passion and dedication of control room colleagues we were able to manage the demand and maintain our service, despite constant pressures on our resources."

On New Year’s eve, a total of 725 emergency calls were received.

Force control contact officers also responded to hundreds of submitted online forms and social media messages.

At the same time, a team of dispatch officers worked to allocate responders from one incident to another in order to prioritise the most critical incidents.

Superintendent Talbot added: “Our teams work extremely hard to ensure that those who need help quickly receive it.

“However, it’s really important that the public do what they can to help us help others as much as possible.

“Our 999 calls will always take priority, as the public would expect. During times of increased demand, those who are calling 999 to report non-emergencies may consider using other ways to get in touch."

He added: “Our dedicated online reporting section on our website can be accessed for non-emergencies at a time that is convenient for you - and your report will be treated in the same way as a 101 call.

“Please also consider whether your call is more appropriate for another agency or service that is not the police.”