Police call numbers on the rise

CALLS to South Yorkshire Police are increasing despite new technology offering the public other ways to report incidents online, new data shows.

An added layer of demand has been created — rather than shifting workload away from phonelines, according to Chief Constable Lauren Poultney.

There were 26,816 emergency calls in October 2022 and 24,172 in November, compared with the average for the two months in the previous five years of around 23,000 and 22,000 respectively.

The 101 number was called 47,406 times in October and 44,742 in November, slightly down on five-year averages of 48,700 and 45,400.

But there were now new ways to contact SYP — and in November, the force received 5,900 email enquiries, 2,500 online reports and 550 webchats via its “digital desk”.

Ms Poultney said: “What we are seeing, locally and nationally, is growth in terms of things like webchats.

“Online tends to be additionality, so call volumes are not being reduced. In fact, our call volumes are increasing.

“But we are also getting another layer of demand on top of that, perhaps from people who don’t particularly enjoy using the phone.”

Dr Alan Billings, the region’s police commissioner, told a meeting on Monday that the frequency of emailed complaints about the 101 service used to get him down.

But he added: “I can’t remember the last time we had one.

“There’s clearly been a change.”

Ms Poultney said more staff had been brought in and roles had been re-assessed, in addition to the extra technology introduced.

“There has been a fairly significant investment in technology,” she added.

“We are really now maximising what we can get from that technology, which again is a never-ending journey of continuous improvement.

“This investment, which we started to put in place two or three years ago, is really starting to make the difference.”

Despite the higher volume of 999 calls, the wait time was down to just five seconds in November from 12 in June. The average 101 wait was eight minutes and 19 seconds in October and four minutes and 37 seconds in November.

Callers are now given the option to be called back after being on hold more than two minutes.

The average wait for a webchat is currently one minute and 27 seconds which the force wants to reduce to about 30 seconds.