Improvement plan to get Wiltshire's 999 calls answered sooner

Wiltshire Police said the response to 999 calls has improved since November 2023

Wiltshire Police has put an improvement plan and recruitment strategy in place for responding to 999 calls.

It comes after more than 20% of emergency calls to the force were not answered in under the target 10 seconds in November, according to Police.UK data.

It found that of 7,868 emergency calls, 77% met the target.

Wiltshire Police said there was an improvement in December, with 82% of calls picked up within 10 seconds.

Ch Supt David Minty - who runs the force's contact centre - said Wiltshire Police was "very much focussed on improving call quality".

Forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland aim to answer 90% of 999 calls within 10 seconds according to Police.UK, the national website for forces across the UK nations.

The figures it collected showed that Greater Manchester Police had among the fastest response times, answering nearly 94% of calls in under 10 seconds.

Wiltshire Police said it was focussed on improving standards

Ch Supt Minty explained that Wilstshire Police was "absolutely focussed on driving up standards".

"Call answering times are of course important, but they are just one element of our control centre operation," he said.

The force said part of the work to speed up response times was ensuring the public understood the best use of the 999 number "which should only be used where immediate assistance is required".

There is an ongoing improvement plan and recruitment strategy to improve the numbers, but Ch Supt Minty said "there is still a great deal of work to be done".

Working out the most appropriate response to a call "is of paramount importance," he added.

Wiltshire Police said inquiries outside of the emergency number can be raised by calling 101 or reporting online.