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GMP revealed as having quickest response times to 999 calls of any police force in England

Quite an achievement.

Emily Sergeant - 19th February 2024

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has the quickest response times to 999 calls of any police force in England, it has been revealed.

It’s all according to data sourced via police.uk.

The latest data from November of last year shows that 41,786 out of 44,491 emergency 999 calls made were answered by GMP within 10 seconds (93.9%), with the average speed of answer for that month being just two seconds, and then the following month, 93.4% of some 45,860 calls were answered by the police force within 10 seconds.

Average answer times for non-emergency calls using 101 also reduced within the year, from just over a minute in January 2023 to 30 seconds in January 2024.

June 2023 saw the highest levels of demand for 101 non-emergency calls, the data has revealed, with some 79,109 calls coming into GMP’s Force Contact, Crime and Operations (FCCO) centre and 83.2% of those answered within the 101 non-emergency service level required of three minutes.

GMP is partly owing its increase in call response times to the fact it has made “significant investment” in its FCCO centre recently.

In particular, a new leadership team was established at the centre back in 2022, and this was accompanied by what the force has called a “concerted recruitment campaign” to provide all call handlers with the resources required to answer calls for service “efficiently”.

On top of this, a so-called ‘revised graded response policy’ was also introduced, with the basis of this being an initial THRIVE (Threat, Harm, Risk, Investigation, Vulnerability, Engagement) assessment – which ensures the force now prioritises its calls for service as “effectively” as it possibly can.

Superintendent Jim Ainscough, of GMP’s FCCO, called the increase in call response times a “brilliant result” for the force.

He also thanked staff for all their “hard work and commitment” over the last 12 months.

“This is a brilliant result for all our staff,” Superintendent Ainscough commented as the latest data was revealed.

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“In particular our hardworking call handlers, customer enquiry unit, digital team, radio dispatchers, crime recorders, and force operations centre team who answer and respond to calls for service.”

Featured Image – GMP