Sussex Police to top 999 call table
Sussex Police looks set to top the table for answering 999 calls within ten seconds for the third month in a row.
The news was shared during a performance and accountabilitymeetingonfebruary16,which was chaired by Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne.
Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Howard Hodges said: “Ourperformancehasimproved dramaticallyandwe’reincredibly proud that we’re in the position we are.”
In December, 93.9 per cent of the 20,148 999 calls received by the force were answered inside tenseconds.injanuary,itroseto 98 per cent.
Whileafullbreak-downofthe figures was not yet available for January,december’sshowedthat 1,091 calls (5.1 per cent) took between ten and 60 seconds to answer and 228 calls (1.1 per cent) took more than 60 seconds. The meeting was told that February’s figures looked to be on course to top the table as well.
T/acchodgessaid:“whatwe can’tdoisbecomplacentaround that – we have to keep the pressure on.”
He cited several reasons for the recent improvement in the number of calls answered so quickly – with technology being top of the list. He said a new telephony platform had ‘transformed’ how staff dealt with calls, making it simple to jump between 999 and 101 calls without having to log in and out of the relevant systems.
Lesstimewasspentonadmin, planningandrosteringthanksto the workforce management system, and the control centre had been assigned a dedicated Chief Inspectortokeepthingsrunning.
T/ACC Hodges added: “The performance isn’t just about the technology.thestaffintheroom – and it is a pressure cooker environment to work in the control room–haveabsolutelyembraced the need to improve the performanceandthey’veembracedthe technology as well.”
Non-emergency 101 calls have been a thorn in the side for a number of years, with the average answering time 20 minutes in 2017/18.
In 2018/19 more than half of the people who made a 101 call hung up because they got no response – a situation T/ACC Hodgescalledunacceptable.this January, the average answering timewasoneminute28seconds, with around 22,500 calls being made.