North Yorkshire Police miss 999 target after surge in demand but aim to improve

New figures show 53.5 per cent of the 88,646 calls the force received between August 2020 and July 2021 were answered within that time frame.

Another 164,446 calls were made to 101 and 39.8 were answered within the target time of two minutes.

The force states staffing issues and a surge in demand over the summer have made it difficult to hit the targets, which are set nationally.

Another 9,572 emergency 999 calls were made in August - the highest number ever recorded in that month - and 50 per cent were answered within 10 seconds.

Deputy Chief Constable Phil Cain said the control room has been working to reduce the answer time and “we want to get a lot better at that”, when he spoke at a public accountability meeting on Tuesday.

He said: “The challenge for us has been balancing against the volume increase in 999 calls we’re receiving, certainly since the easing of lockdown restrictions, versus some of the staffing challenges we’ve seen in the control room.”

He said the control room’s performance is reviewed by assistant chief constable Lindsey Butterfield on a weekly basis and long-term improvement plans are being prepared.

He also welcomed the £139,000 which was provided by Philip Allott, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, to hire more dispatchers and cover overtime in the busy control room.

The force states that after an extremely busy summer, when lockdown restrictions were lifted and thousands went out to enjoy the warm weather and a number of sporting events, demand and waiting times are starting to fall.

Superintendent of customer contact Jason Dickson said: “Many people don’t realise that behind every 999 and 101 call in North Yorkshire, is a dedicated team of people answering those calls and now online reports through our website, 24 hours a day.

"So, regardless if you call 101 or use our website to contact us, your report will be dealt with in the same way.

“Going online not only saves you having to wait in the 101 queue, which we know can sometimes be very busy, it also helps to keep our phones lines free for emergencies.

“The last thing we want is for our communities to have to wait in long queues to speak to us about non-emergency crimes and to provide information, so if you have access to the internet and if you need to contact us on 101, please consider using our website to see if your report, information or question can be dealt with much quicker."