Improved call times for International Control Room Week
International Control Room Week runs from 21 to 27 October and aims to recognise and raise awareness of the vital role played by control room teams who manage traumatic and distressing situations daily.
Staff in our call control centres and Public Enquiry Offices are right on the frontline. Every day they deal with vulnerable members of the public and the work they do saves countless lives. It’s not just about dispatching uniformed officers to a scene or helping to locate a missing person. The control centre staff often find themselves speaking to people in distress, keeping them on the line and providing vital support until an officer arrives.
Control room staff are often the first point of contact for our communities, and we know how much they value being able to speak to a member of our team. We’ve been working hard to improve our call answering times and in the six month period to August 2024 we’ve seen significant improvements, with 92.7% of 999 calls being answered within 10 seconds. Non-emergency 101 calls have also improved, with the average waiting time down to under four minutes, down from an equivalent of over 40 minutes last year.
Dan Thorogood, Head of Contact Services, said: “We’re immensely proud of the work done by our control room staff. Every day they embody the best side of humanity; the basic instinct to help other people in need. We’re especially pleased with the improvements we’ve made to our call answering times. It’s been a challenge, and we still have some way to go, but these figures demonstrate that we’re getting to where we want to be.”
Recently the Force has been opening more Public Enquiry Offices and these provide another valuable point of contact, with staff helping people with non-emergency enquiries.
Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez said: “The public rightly expect the best from their police and I’m delighted with the improvements that have been made. I’ve written before about the operational challenge of improving this vital service and it’s right to take this opportunity to congratulate the frontline staff and express my thanks to the stressful and difficult job they do to keep our communities safe 24/7.”
