Seven months since West Yorkshire Police last abandoned 999 call

West Yorkshire Police (WYP) has not abandoned an emergency 999 call for seven months.
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Nationally, calls to the 999s number can be abandoned for a number of reasons, such as someone calling the system but hanging up as they feel they have been waiting too long, or the emergency situation escalatingand the caller has to abandon due to pressure from others.

In the previous five months before this performance the WYP abandonment rate was less than 0.00007 per cent.

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The time taken to answer the calls is also improving – and has been largely falling since June 2017 when the average queue time for people ringing the emergency number was 4.8 seconds. For January 2018 the figure was 3.9 seconds and currently it is 3.7 seconds, despite increased demand

Tom Donohoe, Customer Contact Centre Manager for West Yorkshire Police.Tom Donohoe, Customer Contact Centre Manager for West Yorkshire Police.
Tom Donohoe, Customer Contact Centre Manager for West Yorkshire Police.

Tom Donohoe, Customer Contact Centre Manager for West Yorkshire Police, and said: “When people call the 999 number they need our help and they need it quickly. They are often in a very vulnerable situation and the difference between life and death in such situations can often be measured in seconds so the importance of responding to calls cannot be underestimated.

“Callers can have the confidence that when they need our help urgently they will get to speak to someone who will be able to help them and get police officers to the scene as quickly as possible or to offer advice and guidance if deployment of an Officer is not required

“I am proud to lead such an excellent team that month after month is leading the way nationally and other police forces and external companies have visited us to see how we are managing such impressive results.”

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