West Yorkshire Police has not abandoned an emergency 999 call for seven months. Calls to the 999 number are for emergencies and where there is a threat to life. It is vital that the call is answered and answered as quickly as possible.

Nationally, a call to the 999s number can be abandoned for a number of reasons; for example someone calls the system but hangs up as they feel they have been waiting too long or the emergency situation escalates and the caller has to abandon due to pressure from others. West Yorkshire Polices Contact Centre will always track such calls to ensure that the caller is safe.

In the previous five months prior to this exceptional performance the abandonment rate was less than 0.00007%.

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 is the 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.”