JUST 63 per cent of 999 calls to Dorset Police were answered within the 10 second target time, less than the UK average of 71 per cent.

The Home Officer has released information on how long it took each police force in the UK to answer 999 calls between November 2021 and April 2022.

On average across the UK, police forces receive a 999 call every three seconds.

Today’s data shows 71 per cent of these are answered within the target of under 10 seconds, with an overall average of 16.1 seconds answer time. This is the first time forces have been able to compare their answering times.

Dorset Police took a mean average of 17 seconds to answer the calls and a median average of 8.2 seconds.

Sixty-three per cent of calls were answered in less than ten seconds, 32 per cent of calls were answered between ten and 60 seconds and five per cent were answered after 60 seconds.

Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said: “Calling 999 can literally be a matter of life and death. The public deserve to know that their local police force will be at the end of the phone, ready to leap into action at seconds’ notice to protect them from harm.

“Fundamentally, publishing this data is about driving up standards in our incredible emergency services even further, so that the public can have every confidence in the police’s ability to save lives and keep our streets safe.

“We can now see where forces are excelling and where vital improvements need to be made and I thank the police for their commitment to ensuring we maintain the best emergency services in the world.”

National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Lead for Contact Management, Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd, said: “Today’s release of 999 Performance Data shows the high level of demand being placed on call handlers on a daily basis throughout the UK.

“We can see between November 2021 to April 2022, policing answered over 3.7 million calls in under ten seconds and a further 1.2 million in under 60 seconds.

“Forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland strive to answer 90 per cent of 999 calls within ten seconds, with Police Scotland aiming to have a mean answering time of 999 calls answered in under ten seconds.

“The 999 Performance Data is helping policing understand the experience of the public from their point of view from the moment they dial 999.”

Chief Superintendent Gavin Dudfield, head of contact management at Dorset Police, said: “Dorset Police welcomes the new data showing we have an average answer time of 14 seconds over the last month.

“This is the first time 999 call performance data has been published force by force and we welcome such transparency and scrutiny, as 999 call volumes increase nationally.

“I would like to reassure our communities that we have robust procedures in place that allow us to continuously monitor and scrutinise our 999 and 101 call data so we can identify areas of improvement.

"Over recent months we have recruited more staff into our control room and are seeing performance steadily improve.

"We are committed to providing the very best service to the public at a time when they need us the most and ensuring Dorset is a safe county for everyone.

"The force would ask that 999 is only used for emergencies and that members of the public use online services or call 101 for non-emergency matters.”

Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, David Sidwick said: "This is the first time such figures have been produced and as such provides Forces across the country with a benchmark for further improvement – indeed Dorset has already put in place a plan of transformation, and I have ensured that there will be the necessary level of investment required.

“As Commissioner, one of the roles I perform is to regularly scrutinise a number of areas of policing, including 999 and 101.

"Scrutiny of police performance is important and in addition to my own scrutiny, there are a number of independent scrutiny panel volunteers whose role is to regularly check and assess the work of Dorset Police.

"The Use of Police Powers and Standards Panel, reviews the response to 999 and 101 calls as a standard measure. It’s important the residents and communities of Dorset know that such scrutiny is already in place and that action and change is made because of the role of the PCC and scrutiny panels, not only in Dorset but across the country.

“This new data reveals that nationally there is a call made to the 999 service every three seconds which is a staggering statistic and shows the high level of demand placed on call handlers and the response service itself, so it is vital to remind the public to only call 999 in an emergency (threat to life /crime in action /offender still in vicinity) and that non-emergencies are reported via the 101 service by email phone or online.”