Panel examines police response to emergencies
MANY people will have a story to tell about a time when they found it difficult to get through to an emergency or non-emergency number.
We have heard stories nationally of long waits, especially for the 101 nonemergency service.
But South Wales Police has been laying out its latest response time figures and what it is doing to improve them as it faces ever increasing demand from emergency and nonemergency calls
At a meeting of the South Wales Police and Crime Panel on Tuesday, December 11, the police and crime commissioner Alun Michael and chief constable Matt Jukes took members through the latest situation.
South Wales Police has a public service control centre in Bridgend which it shares with the fire service, the ambulance service on an intermittent basis and consultant psychiatrists.
The centre takes 1,200 calls on the 101 number every day and more than 500 999 calls, with a 5% increase year on year for both.
In terms of the call abandonment rate, it stands at 0.5% for South Wales Police with the figure being 2% nationally but many of the abandoned calls are put down to directing people to other services.
The average wait time for 999 in the South Wales Police area is around five seconds but the figure is a minute and a half for the 101 number with 96% of these calls answered in two minutes.
Matt Jukes, the chief constable of South Wales Police said he wishes this were less but said that it is a non-emergency number and that there is a balance about which number they give priority.
The figure nationally for 101 waiting times is three minutes but there was a question about why waiting times can sometimes be 10 minutes and the panel heard that this is usually due to a spike in demand which they are not expecting and is impossible to plan for.
On one day they received 186 calls in 20 minutes related to a car crash which was a 73% increase in demand and meant people had to wait until there was a call handler available.
It was also revealed that the centre dealt with more calls in a month than it ever had done previously this July because of a combination of the warm weather and the World Cup.
Staff sickness levels at the centre have fallen to 7.2% and the force says it is very conscious of this and tries to protect staff as much as possible.
The commissioner Alun Michael said there was initial challenge when the previous seven sites became one with a drop in the number of class being answered in target time, especially for 101 calls which he said be because 999 has to be the priority.
He said: “The consistency of response was not being maintained.
“It was councillors and residents raising it. There was the problem of a negative experience for callers.
“A lot of things were put in place to give alternatives and to deal with the demand.”
He told panel members that 999 performance has been consistently restored and that 101 response is going back towards expectations.
He confirmed that they would be writing to councillors in the and holding public events to inform people about the alternatives to 999 and 101 that are available.
“It (the system) is far more efficient than other forces. Some Met (Metropolitan Police) calls were being diverted to South Wales Police because they couldn’t cope,” he added.
“It needs to be a good experience for the public.”
Chief constable Jukes said: “The most important way that work comes in to us is still via telephone.
“Our first duty to the public is to respond to emergencies.
“Nationally there is almost no conversation about 101 because 999 is under really severe pressure.”
He said there had been a flat line in South Wales’ 999 performance with the demand level continuing to increase.
He said that dealing with calls quickly is not the ultimate measure of success in non emergency calls but it’s about dealing with calls well.
He said that issues such as domestic violence and mental health took time to deal with.
“We are so much more efficient than we were a decade ago,” he said.
“I want the digital shift to be for the benefit of the public.
“We understand the peaks and challenges better but they are impossible to iron out.
“It (the call centre) is still the gateway for the service. It is not an easy business and there are some impressive people doing the work.”
The force says it planning to continually improve to try and deal with demand better.
It has put in place a new leadership structure, training package and a well-being strategy for staff, as well as providing a clear career path for employees.
There is also a shift to digital and dealing with direct messages on Facebook and Twitter.
It is also introducing a “Track My Crime” system online so that people do not have to call the service to find out updates about their reports of crime.
There is also a plan to recruit retired officers and staff who they can bring in to the centre when required.