Nearly a MILLION calls to Lancashire Police have gone unanswered in past five years

Almost 900,000 calls to police have gone unanswered in the last five years, according to latest figures.
Latest figures reveal more than 900,000 calls to police went unanswered in the last five years.Latest figures reveal more than 900,000 calls to police went unanswered in the last five years.
Latest figures reveal more than 900,000 calls to police went unanswered in the last five years.

A request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) revealed that 873,293 calls to the non-emergency 101 number were not picked up between 2013 and 2018.

The number of unanswered calls more than doubled between 2017 and 2018, and the average time for a call to be answered had risen to over a minute.

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But police bosses say more call handlers had been taken on to meet demand, and it is now easier to report crimes online.

Latest figures reveal more than 900,000 calls to police went unanswered in the last five years.Latest figures reveal more than 900,000 calls to police went unanswered in the last five years.
Latest figures reveal more than 900,000 calls to police went unanswered in the last five years.

Last year, 331,254 calls went unanswered – more than double the 164,558 unanswered calls in 2017.

The average time for a call to be answered between 2013 and 2018 was 71.5 seconds.

The figures, obtained through an FOI request, also show the average number of 101 calls per day, from 2013 to 2018, was 2,365.

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The average number of calls to 101 per year over the last five years was a staggering 863,798.

The highest number of answered calls was 1,015,942 in 2013 and the lowest had been 773,638 in 2016.

People are advised to call 101 or use online facilities to report non-urgent crimes, pass on concerns about their area or simply to make an enquiry.

What do police say about the figures?

Clive Grunshaw, Lancashire’s police and crime commissioner, said the amount and complexity of calls coming through 101 highlighted the pressures the service is facing.

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“Cuts across the public sector mean that more people are reaching crisis point, meaning that the police are increasingly used as the emergency service of first resort.

“Lancashire Police are having to do more with less at a time of growing demand, with recorded crime increasing across the country whilst we have lost around 800 officers and 350 support staff since 2010 after nine years of austerity in policing.

“I continue to raise this with the chief constable and am regularly updated on this issue which I know is a concern for many people, and I have invested into the control room to help deal with this increasing pressure, which has seen around £1.2m of investment and 50 new staff in post, whilst the way that the control room operates is also changing to meet the demand that it faces.

“There have also been improvements to online reporting, aimed at making it easier to report crimes to officers who work round the clock to keep people safe.”

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This is how 101 calls are handled at Lancashire Police's control room in Preston

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: “All 101 calls for Lancashire are dealt with by our force control room based at Headquarters near Preston.

“Our control room is staffed by officers and staff working shifts that are designed so we have more people available to answer calls at peak times.

“The unpredictable nature of the work of the emergency services does mean that an incident such as a serious road collision can result in a sudden and dramatic spike in emergency calls to us.

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“The same group of operators deal with both 999 and 101 calls, so at times like this there will be a knock on effect that means it takes us longer to answer the non-emergency lines.”

“Like many services 101 is busier at some times of the week than others.

“Peak times include evenings and weekends when it will take longer to answer calls.

“If a call is not urgent and it is taking us a little while to answer then it may be worth using one of the other methods to report it to us, or to call back at a less busy time.

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“Do not call 999 for calls which are not an emergency. It will tie up an operator and delay a police response to someone who may actually require the police, but is unable to get through.

“In 2017 the Police Crime Commissioner for Lancashire approved an investment in additional Police Control Room Operators (PCROs) taking the number of PCROs in the force control room from 295 to 345.

“The increase in staffing was incrementally phased in during 2018, with the new increased staffing establishment reached in December.”