Wiltshire Police second slowest for answering 999 calls in the UK
Research has found the force averaged an answering time of almost 20 seconds
It's been revealed that Wiltshire Police is the second slowest force in the UK for responding to an incoming call.
Research by personal injury experts Claims.co.uk found that it takes Wiltshire Police an average of 19.6 seconds to answer a call. Lincolnshire Police has the fastest call response time in the UK at 7 seconds.
Every call to 999 must be transferred from BT to the relevant police force, which adds to the delay.
Chief Constable Catherine Roper has put part of the sluggishness in answering calls down to the historic way in which the control room has been set up.
But she's admitted that 19 seconds is far too long.
"It is a challenge for Wiltshire Police," she said, adding that it is a national issue. "That gap where we don't have any control of that call is awful," she added.
The Chief stressed that when the call does reach her officers, they are responding quickly, reaching immediate responses within 15 minutes and rural incidents within 20 minutes, something she noted made her proud of her officers and staff.
"We are in conversations with BT to see what we can do speed things up," Chief Roper said, adding, "We are also looking at technology options too."
That follows a peer-review of the control room technology by other forces to see what improvements can be made.
How was the research carried out?
Researchers gathered data on the average time it takes for a call to be transferred to each UK police force from March 2023 to February 2024. They took the total number of calls and multiplied them by the average to find a weighted figure.
The sum of the weight figures was calculated, as well as the sum of the number of calls.
The weights sum was then divided by the calls sum to discover the weighted average for each police force and therefore determine the final ranking.
A spokesperson from Claims.co.uk has commented on the findings: "The time it takes for the police to respond to a 999 call is crucial – the longer the caller waits, the higher the risk of harm and danger to the individual.
"While it's great to see that the average call response time for the top ranking forces is under ten seconds, those that rank at the bottom will likely be concerning to locals.”
"However, the slowest response times should not instigate doubt on the perseverance and effort of police forces throughout the UK, as it instead suggests that the bottom-ranking forces are understaffed; these areas perhaps need more funding so that they can offer as much support as possible to residents of their areas."