By Gemma Fraser
Head of content
Police Scotland has been ranked 37th out of the UK’s 44 forces for the time it takes to answer emergency calls.
The target for answering 999 calls is 10 seconds, but calls in Scotland are taking an average of 11.26 seconds to be answered, according to Home Office figures.
This is an improvement on the 2023 figures when calls were answered in 12.68 seconds, however at that point the force was ranked in 25th place.
The fall down the league table has been attributed to technological advances put in place in other forces.
Police Scotland will be introducing its own modernisation programme within the next three years, as well as looking to “educate the public” on not using the 999 line for non-emergencies.
Chief Superintendent Barry Blair, divisional commander of the contact, command and control division – known as C3 – told a Scottish Police Authority meeting that callers need to be directed to the non-emergency 101 number or online services if their call does not require an emergency response.
He said: “Unfortunately, we do see people using the 999 line for what we would class as non-emergency business.
“There is a grey area there where people may deem it to be an emergency and we would never want to discourage people where they’re uncertain from doing that.
“But what we want to do is change our stance because organisationally, when that demand comes through, we deal with it.
“Where there is significant demand on our emergency line I’m keen that our staff do not deal with non-emergency business via that route and actually help educate the public to move back onto 101 and the wider platforms.”
“Unfortunately, we do see people using the 999 line for what we would class as non-emergency business”
Chief Superintendent Barry Blair
Police Scotland is the second largest service in the UK for 999 call volumes, answering more than 450,000 calls per year.
The force experienced a “significant unexpected increase” in 2023 as a result of extreme weather, various large-scale events, changes to legislation relating to XL Bully dogs and, most significantly, an update to the Android operating system that caused mobile telephones using it to inadvertently call 999.
1919 previously revealed concerns raised by the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) that “dangerously low” understaffing in the control rooms could lead to “dire consequences”.
Lack of breaks, shift changes, and cancelled days off all contributed to officers being at risk of making mistakes while working in the service’s five area control rooms, according to the SPF report.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell made a number of commitments relating to C3 as part of her recently-announced ‘2030 vision’, including the introduction of new technologies in the next three years.
As well as this, the force has already started training new recruits on entry rather than waiting up to 20 weeks which could increase capacity by up to a fifth.
The Police Scotland report concluded: “Whilst we continue to prioritise the 999 service to achieve an average speed of answer under 10 seconds, it is recognised that Police Scotland’s position in the ranking when compared nationally with other UK forces may be perceived negatively with other forces performing more strongly.
“There are many factors that influence this, and Police Scotland continues to benchmark with other forces to inform any improvement work, but at present we are working at optimum level within the current constraints.
“It is envisaged that the delivery of new technology will improve overall organisational performance.”