Our investment in responding to the public

A key area to improve has been responding to the public. In July 2022 we were averaging 25 seconds to answer a 999 call, and our inspectorate, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), had additional concerns about how effectively we were identifying vulnerable callers.

Our answer was to target significant investment into our Force Contact Centre, to improve the speed with which we can respond to the growing (and continuing to grow) volume of calls. Over the course of the last year, this has meant 31 new, highly trained call handlers responding to 750,000 calls per year, with a further 20 starting in July to improve resilience.

But numbers alone would not deliver the improvements needed. With 30,000 more 101 calls alone in 2023, we needed to make significant changes to how we managed these calls too. One of the first changes was to introduce a triage function for 101 calls. The Triage Team, a small group of experienced officers, would intercept most 101 calls and offer an initial assessment of whether the call was a policing matter. At one point, this team was dealing with 60 per cent of the total volume of calls at the first point of contact and forwarding the remainder through to contact staff to respond to a call for service. As a result, the team were resolving over 100,000 calls in the first 12 months through advice or signposting to other agencies.

We have also invested in additional performance systems and increased supervision to enable our call handling function to track, assess and forecast peaks in our demand, including the near 50,000 enquiries which come in via our website.

Alongside improving our ability to respond to calls, and in particular the most urgent calls for service, we have transformed how we can identify and respond appropriately to our most vulnerable callers. Through a major (and continuing) training regime, all call handlers have been trained to assess vulnerability; and through rigorous auditing and assessment of calls, building a culture where understanding and identifying vulnerability when a call is answered is ingrained throughout the Contact Centre.

Since first identifying the need to improve, Staffordshire Police now routinely answers 999 calls within 10 seconds, and we are consistently in the top 10 of forces nationally for meeting national targets in this area, despite receiving 28,000 more 999 calls since July 2022.

Our improvement was acknowledged by HMICFRS, who praised the ‘significant and sustained’ improvements in this area.

While HMICFRS’s decision is welcome, this is not ‘the end’. We know there is more to do, in relation to 101 calls in particular, and reducing the time it takes to attend incidents. Responding quickly, identifying vulnerability, being victim-focused and delivering better outcomes is of real-world importance to those we serve. It means better protecting our communities; delivering justice for more victims and seeing more offenders held to account.