5,000 give up on 101 calls every week
More than a third abandon police line Chief: We are sorry and can improve
THOUSANDS of people are abandoning calls to the Lancashire Police 101 line EVERY WEEK, we can reveal. According to figures obtained by the Observer, about 5,000 callers across the county give up on getting through after making calls to the service.
That accounts for a shocking onethird of all calls made.
Hyndburn Conservative leader Tony Dobson has described the figures as ‘extremely alarming’ as ‘cuts begin to bite’, while MP Graham Jones said the police service is collapsing.
Chf Supt Pete Lawson, Head of Contact and Response for Lanca- shire Constabulary, told the Observer: “We apologise to anyone who has used the 101 service and feels they have not received the level of service they expect. We know there is more we can do to improve.”
SPECIAL report on
POLICE bosses have admitted they can improve after ‘extremely alarming’ figures revealed response time targets are missed on THOUSANDS of calls to the 101 and 999 police hot lines every week.
More than a third of the 15,000 calls a week to the non-emergency 101 number were abandoned by the caller in 2017, a trebling of the 2015 rate, and that trend is mirrored for 999 calls, figures released exclusively by Lancashire Constabulary reveal.
Coun Tony Dobson, Hyndburn Conservative group leader, said the statistics were ‘disturbing’.
He said: “Those figures are extremely alarming.
“To imagine that onethird of everybody who calls the police in Lancashire does not get an answer is very disturbing and mirrors what I’m hearing in my ward.”
He said spending cuts were starting to ‘bite’ throughout all public sector organisations, but questioned whether the police are utilising modern technology well enough and using the best management systems.
He added: “Is the criminal justice system letting everyone down by not penalising criminals?”
The figures, revealed to the Observer by a Freedom of Information Act request, also show that the 10-second answer target was missed for more than 70,000 calls to 999, and more than 4,000 emergency callers hung up without being connected.
Hyndburn MP Graham Jones said the police service is ‘collapsing’.
He said: “People are calling 999 or 101 because other public services are failing. The pressure is all being dumped on the police. I know the police are exceedingly concerned about this.
“I’m angry about it, the public are angry about it. The police cannot man the telephones and catch the criminals.”
Hyndburn council leader Miles Parkinson said the Constabulary was ‘feeling the effects of austerity’.
He said: “While other services and partners face further cutbacks this inevitably has a knock-on effect.
“Once you add in the extra call length to the extra volume, this means an intense strain on the service.”
Chf Supt Pete Lawson, Head of Contact and Response for Lancashire Constabulary, said: “We apologise to anyone who has used the 101 service and feels they have not received the level of service they expect. We know there is more we can do to improve.”