West Mercia Police among the slowest forces for answering 999 calls
West Mercia Police takes longer to answer 999 calls on average than almost every other force in the UK, figures show.
Watch more of our videos on Shots!
and live on Freeview channel 276
And the force answers only 72.63 percent of emergency calls within 10 seconds – well short of the national target of 90 percent.
Personal injury company Injury Claims analysed 13.5 million 999 calls made to police forces across the UK between February 2023 and February 2024 – and found 19.2 percent were not answered within the target time of 10 seconds.
The average time taken by West Mercia Police to pick up was 17.66 seconds. Only Wiltshire Police (19.03) and Bedfordshire Police (30.56) were slower.
The fastest was Lincolnshire Police, which answers calls in 6.91 seconds on average.
No police forces met the target of answering 90 percent of calls within 10 seconds.
The analysis showed that West Mercia’s average answer time had dropped from 11.8 seconds in 2021 to 17.66 seconds in the past year.
Superintendent Damian Pettit, public contact lead for the force, said: “The public can be confident that when they call us in an emergency we will answer as quickly as possible.
“We are constantly identifying ways to improve our service and over the last 12 months we have invested in additional staff, new technology for our control room and more efficient processes.
“The public can also help us to continue to answer their calls as quickly as possible by only dialling 999 in a genuine emergency. This includes where a crime is occurring at the time or someone’s welfare is at immediate risk. This ensures we can help those who need a police response most to receive it as quickly as possible.
“Where 999 is used for a non-emergency, the call will be given non-emergency priority, meaning it will not result in the matter being dealt with more quickly than by calling 101 or reporting online.
“If it’s not an emergency, then our online reporting system on our website is quick and easy to use – and the matter will be handled in exactly the same way as a phone call to us. The 101 service is also still available for anyone wishing to report non-urgent matters who are unable to do so online.”
