Essex Police answering 79% of 999 calls in 10 seconds
The response time falls short of national targets
Essex Police are answering around 79% of 999 calls within 10 seconds, according to new Home Office data.
According to statistics published today, 18% of calls to the Essex force are answered between 10 and 60 seconds and around 3% in over a minute.
In Suffolk, 81% of calls are answered within 10 seconds. In Norfolk its 84%.
Essex Police are faliing short of a national target to answer 90% of calls to 999 within 10 seconds.
Overall, 71% of 999 calls were answered within 10 seconds.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said "the public deserve to know that their local police force will be at the end of the phone, ready to leap into action at seconds' notice to protect them from harm".
"Fundamentally, publishing this data is about driving up standards in our incredible emergency services even further, so that the public can have every confidence in the police's ability to save lives and keep our streets safe," she added.
"We can now see where forces are excelling and where vital improvements need to be made and I thank the police for their commitment to ensuring we maintain the best emergency services in the world."
The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) lead for contact management, Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd, said a lag in connecting calls can contribute to waits but that "this isn't for a member of public to resolve".
"We want the public to have access to the data as part of policing being open and transparent," he added.
"This is the first time police forces and the public have been able to see the time it takes to answer 999 calls from the call being made by the public, it being connected to the police by BT and local providers, to it being answered by police call handlers."