Public ‘fed up’ at creaking 101 police line
The public are becoming increasingly fed up and are losing confidence in 101 non emergency lines, a report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary has warned.
There has been a sharp drop in the use of the service across England and Wales over the past year.
Much of that is down to calls not being answered within an acceptable timit, according to officials.
Figures published by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) show that in 2018 there were just over 22 million calls made to the 101 number. But that figure was down by almost 675,000 on the previous 12 months, a fall of three per cent.
Concern nationally comes as figures reveal one 101 call in the West Midlands took more than three hours to answer.
The figures for the West Midlands came from an FOI request by Liberal Democrat activists in the region. They also show that 7,727 999 calls and 154,529 101 calls were abandoned by the caller in the West Midlands last year, although both those figures are an improvement on the year before.
Opinion:
West Midlands Lib Dem campaigner Leyla Abbes said: “People do not expect to call police and be kept waiting. People are hanging on, in some cases for hours and then giving up on 101.
“What’s deeply alarming is the number of calls that are still being abandoned. We are in the midst of a knife crime epidemic and my worry is people in desperate need are not getting through to help. When it can take up to 10 minutes in an emergency to get to speak to someone you would feel utterly betrayed by those who are there to help.
“There is also a real concern about the sheer number of 101 calls abandoned. What happens to the reporting of some so-called ‘low-level’ crimes if people inevitably give up and abandon efforts to get through to an operator due to delays in call-answering. The police have serious questions to answer.”
The 101 system was introduced across the country in 2012 in a bid to make the police more accessible to local people.
Unlike 999 calls, the 101 system is not free, with people being charged 15p to speak to an operator.
But the system has had mixed success with many people complaining that the waiting times are unacceptable.
Matt Parr, HM Inspector of Constabulary, said the figures suggested people were "losing confidence" in the 101 system.
He said: "We do our own survey of public perceptions and we think the reason 101 calls have been going down is because the public are getting fed up waiting for someone to answer it and so they call 999 instead, which they have more confidence in."
The HMIC inspection covered 14 force areas, with some performing worse than others when it came to maintaining confidence in the 101 system.
In the West Midlands area, England's second largest force, calls to 101 were down almost 12 per cent, a drop of 178,422, while 999 calls were up almost 8,000 year on year.
Calls to the non emergency line in Greater Manchester were down by almost 100,000 in the year to 2018, while at the same time there was an increase in 999 calls of more than 42,000.
Baroness Newlove, the victims' commissioner, who has demanded a review of the ailing service, said the public was being let down by 101.
She said: "The finding from HMICFRS very much echoes what I have been hearing from victims when I have been travelling around the country. I have heard stories of victims hanging on for 40 minutes or longer before they get a response. Others have just given up or, out of frustration, they escalate to 999.
"Victims also tell me they use the line to report issues and then nothing happens. And yet they expected to pay for might seem to be a pointless exercise.
"I want to see the line properly resourced to offer a swift response, to be free of charge and that victims see follow up action. Anything less and it is just window dressing."
Steve McCabe, a member of the work and pensions committee who has campaigned against the use of premium charge lines for public services, said: “We are constantly expected not to use 999 in non-emergencies and instead call 101, then it transpires that we are paying for the privilege of what is actually a rather poor service.
“It’s shifting the balance in a key public service that I am not sure is the right approach. Charging for 101 is a step too far.”
Tim Loughton, a former minister and senior member of the Home Affairs Committee, said the Government should take advantage of Brexit to abolish the charges including the 20 per cent VAT that was collected on 101 calls and provided to the Exchequer.
"Law abiding citizens should be encouraged to report crime not penalised financially for it and the fact that EU rules make levying VAT on top that just adds insult to injury and another bonus of Brexit meaning we can decide to abolish iniquitous charges and taxes ourselves," he said.
