Six-month high in 101 calls to Cambridgeshire police
In May, the force received more than 20,000 calls
Last updated 7th Jun 2024
Police in Cambridgeshire are encouraging more people to use their website to contact them, after receiving a record number of 101 calls.
The force said it received 20,938 calls to its non-emergency hotline last month, its highest total in six months.
101 is the non-emergency phone number which can be used to report crime such as anti-social behaviour, fraud, stolen or damaged property, and missing people.
Cambridgeshire Police said out of 1,000-1,200 calls it receives per day, around 60 per cent of these are through 101.
Weather contributed to increase in calls - police
Superintendent Neil Billany is head of demand at Cambridgeshire Police:
"Warmer weather, longer days, May has two bank holidays, we had a couple of warm weekends that saw spikes in demand on both 101 and 999, which increased significantly on what we'd seen in previous months," he said.
"The reason we're trying to ask people to use the online method of reporting is that a lot more data's provided initially by the person that wants to make contact with us, but that enables us to a make a more informed decision on what needs to be done next."
"We don't want to leave people waiting"
Police say using online services is more efficient and helps free up access to its phone lines for those who need to speak to an officer but haven't got internet access.
By calling 101, the person may be called back but they don't have to do anything more unless they want to get back in touch with police with an update.
Mr Billany said because of a growing population in the county, police will have to continue adapting to high demand.
"We've got some significant areas of growth in the county so I don't think there's ever going to come a point where we'll get less demand," he added.
"Because of the volume of calls coming in on 101, sometimes people are waiting 20-30 minutes. If you went on the website, it could be dealt with in 5 or 10 minutes by you putting in some quick details and that comes through to our contact centre.
"We start trying to get through things quicker because we don't want to leave people waiting, not knowing what they're going to be calling us about.
"If more people are contacting us via the slower methods like online or the web chat, it means we can prioritise a service and hopefully try and resolve more people's enquiries."