West Mercia Police too slow answering 999 calls

The force did not always update victims if there was going to be a delay attending an incident, said inspectors

A police force has been told to improve the speed it answers 999 calls and attends incidents.

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) revisited West Mercia Police in July following "cause for concern" over its service in 2021.

In published findings, the watchdog found some progress, but the force's response to the public must improve.

West Mercia Police said it was making changes.

Ninety percent of 999 calls should be answered within 10 seconds, but only 76.1 percent of emergency calls to the force were answered in that time frame during July's checks, said HMICFRS.

Additionally, it found too many callers on the 101 non-emergency line were hanging up before their calls were answered, with the "abandonment rate" at 22.7 percent, when the expected level was five percent.

West Mercia Police said it was currently changing its approach to reduce the amount of time it took to answer calls.

The force said it was pleased that in all of the calls that were reviewed, contact handlers "dealt with callers professionally and with empathy".

Inspectors, however, highlighted that the force was not attending incidents within its own published time frames, and this had got worse since the last audit.

But 2021's areas of concern over service to crime victims had seen some improvements.

They included keeping victims updated on the progress of investigations, and consulting them regarding the outcome of those inquiries.

The watchdog, though, stated the force had not improved how effectively investigations were supervised.

'Share concerns'

West Mercia Police said it was pleased to see a "sustained and significant improvement in several areas" including compliance with the Victims Code of Practice, said Acting Deputy Chief Constable Richard Cooper.

There had also been investment in investigative skills training for both new and existing officers, he added.

He said: "Despite a continued focus to improve our investigative standards we acknowledge and share the concerns raised by the inspectorate.

"We welcome the independent oversight and scrutiny from HMICFRS in this area which will help us to refocus on meaningful improvement."