Response times
5. Aim to answer 999 calls within 10 seconds, deploying to emergencies immediately giving an estimated time of arrival, getting to you safely, and as quickly as possible. In urban areas, we will aim to get to you within 15 minutes and in rural areas within 20 minutes.
During 2009, the Constabulary continued its strong performance in answering emergency calls, with more than 94% of 999 calls answered within 10 seconds. The Constabulary also receives in the region of 30,000 non-emergency calls per month, of which more than 97% were answered within the local target of 20 seconds during 2009 so far. In terms of attending emergency (999) incidents, the Constabulary has a target of attendance within 10 minutes in Urban areas and within 20 minutes in Rural areas. These targets were met for 88%-97% of incidents during these twelve months. To view last years response times, click here.
999 calls in 10 seconds | Non-emergency calls in 20 seconds |
January 2010 - 96.1% February 2010 - 98.2% March 2010 - 91.9% April 2010 - 86.1% May 2010 - 85.9% June 2010 - 83.9% July 2010 - 83.6% | January 2010 - 97.4% February 2010 - 98.4% March 2010 - 98.3% April 2010 - 97% May 2010 - 96.2% June 2010 - 93.5% July 2010 - 96.6% |
Emergency responses (999) | Emergency responses (999) |
| January 2010 10 minutes response time: Urban - 88.4% 20 minutes response time: Rural - 87.8% | February 2010 10 minutes response time: Urban - 90.2% 20 minutes response time: Rural - 91.9% |
| March 2010 10 minutes response time: Urban - 90% 20 minutes response time: Rural - 87.1% | *April 2010 10 minutes response time: Urban -.1% 20 minutes response time: Rural - 89.6% |
| *May 2010 10 minutes response time: Urban - 83.3% 20 minutes response time: Rural - 89.3% | *June 2010 10 minutes response time: Urban - 73.8% 20 minutes response time: Rural - 84% |
| *July 2010 10 minutes response time: Urban - 74.2% 20 minutes response time: Rural - 81.8% |
*During March we introduced a new command and control system; Storm. This has inevitably had an impact on NCHS performance levels as operators become familiar with this new system. These performance levels will be more reflected in next months performance but it is anticipated the trend will move back towards the more usual performance levels that the department take a pride in as operators become more proficient with Storm.
It is also the case that this change led to a difference in the way in which success and failure of incidents is recorded, with regard to the time taken to attend the incident. The effect on the statistics has been to show a drop in the percentage attended in the target time, but this reflects more accurate recording rather than a genuine increase in attendance times.
Click here to view an information sheet from our Contact Management department