Our ongoing commitment to making Staffordshire Police more accessible and responsive has been highlighted as national 101 non-emergency average call wait time data has been published.

Data released by the National Police Chiefs' Council shows we received a total of 338,270 101 non-emergency calls from April 2024 to March 2025.

The average time for 101 non-emergency calls to be answered was 54 seconds.

Around five per cent of calls take over 15 mins to be answered and this will be at times when there is high demand on our emergency (999) line, which we have to prioritise.

Eighty-one per cent of the public who use our service say it’s easy to contact us.

In the last 12 months, we have made significant improvements in our Force Contact Centre focusing on giving our officers and staff the right tools to do their job to provide an outstanding service to victims – one of our key force priorities.

This includes the introduction of our new digital Victims Portal in December 2024. It gives people 24/7 access to details around their cases and the ability to supply additional information. It enhances the service we give to victims of crime in Staffordshire, by offering two-way communication between the officer in the case (OIC) and victims, and supports the Victims’ Code Rights. The first phase, looks specifically at certain crimes – vehicle crime, burglary and criminal damage. This also aims to reduce 101 repeat caller demand, as they will no longer need to call the contact centre to be put through to the officer in their case or to get an update on their crime report.

We have considerably improved the frequency and quality of our risk assessment process when we speak to you, something that was highlighted by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in their latest inspection. They said observed risk assessments of significant depth, understanding and quality. This process is underpinned by a quality and assurance team.

We have also carried out a comprehensive review of our recruitment and retention processes.

Our improvement journey is ongoing and over the next 12 months our priority will be to reduce all call wait times, as we know some 101 calls are still taking too long to be answered. We will do this by investing in new technology to improve the speed in which calls are answered with an ongoing commitment to ensuring skilled call handlers remain at the core of our force control room.

Superintendent Matt Morgan, from our contact centre, said: “We’ve put significant effort and resources into improving our 999 emergency and 101 non-emergency call performance and tackling increased demand as effectively as possible in Staffordshire.

“We recognise that there is still work to do to make sure we improve the first contact we have with people in their time of need.

“Hopefully the public will see and feel the improvements and we appreciate feedback to help us identify where we can continue to improve, to build the confidence of our communities and keep people safe.”

Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire & Rescue and Crime Ben Adams said: “I am pleased to see the improvements Staffordshire Police have made to 101 wait times and the Force Contact Centre over the last 12 months. However, there is still some way to go.

“It’s important that the public receive a high-quality, timely response from their police service, which is why improving 101 and 999 call answering times remains a priority for me and the force.”