Improvements to Staffordshire Police's contact centre have seen the force jump into the top 10 for 999 call answering times.

The force has recruited more contact centre staff and introduced a triage service, as well as launching an online reporting facility on its website, to help it respond more quickly to emergency calls.

On Wednesday (October 4) a police meeting heard that the investments had led to improvements in performance, despite there also being an increase in demand. This peaked at more than 1,000 999 calls a day to Staffordshire Police during last month.

In his report to the police performance meeting Chief Constable Chris Noble said: "I'm pleased to say that we continue to see improvements in many areas, not least in our Force Contact Centre, which is the first point of contact for people contacting the police. From being ranked 23rd in police forces in the percentage of 999 calls answered within our national service level agreement, a year later we're now sixth in the country, answering 85 per cent of calls within 10 seconds.

"This needs to be put into the context that we continue to face rising demand. This summer and early autumn we have faced some of our most challenging levels of demand, with several days topping the number of calls we might expect to see on a typical New Year's Eve."

The force has recruited more contact centre staff and introduced a triage service (LDRS).

Speaking at Wednesday's police performance meeting, he added: "It's not just about the speed, it's about the quality and how we identify those people who need us most. Sadly we've still got some challenges around users of that system that shouldn't be using it; one individual in August called us 253 times.

"Even though we try and answer the phone as quickly as we can, there are peaks and troughs in demand which make it very difficult to be constantly operating at the highest level. And with lots of calls to policing we are most definitely not the right agency to respond.

"We will continually invest in the area around bringing new staff in. There is a real interest in joining the contact family, which is critical for us

"New technologies are critical as well in this area. We're keen to look at how that can work and improve the experience of the public."

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams said: "I think the point you make around demand is really important. I believe there were over 1,000 999 calls in a day last month, which is a record, let alone the 101 calls, online enquiries and all the rest, and that has an impact.

"In many cases we're looking at data where performance has been held in terms of service levels, despite doing the job better in the case of identifying risk on contact. To hold performance levels in times of increasing demand is an achievement I think.

"999s are in the right place, 101 answering with triage is very much better."

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison praised the efforts of contact centre staff during the times of peak demand (Staffordshire Police).

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison praised the efforts of contact centre staff during the times of peak demand. He said: "It was all hands to the pump, there were staff giving up their refreshment breaks to make sure we were answering the phones in a timely fashion.

"The record of 1,000 calls was across several days, which put significant pressure on a finite number of resources in the control room. In September we answered nearly 21,000 999 calls and it was about 17,000 the previous September.

"Even for 1,000 a day, only about a fifth of those are genuine emergency calls by the time we've addressed the threat, harm and risk. That's not changed regardless of the volume of 999s we get.

"The challenge for us as a service is the other four fifths. We still have to pick up the phone and keep people waiting on the non-emergency 101 line because the 999 call has to take priority.

"Our 101 answer time is broadly around the five-minute mark on average. We do hear the odd tales and complaints around 'I was on the phone for half an hour' but we know our average is around the five-minute mark now.

"We have got triage in place so we are able to deal with around two thirds of those calls there and then on that initial call. Those that need to then get the option of waiting for a call handler or having a queue-buster service, so they will get a call back, or they can go to an online chat.

"We intend to continue with that triage function as we know it works for us and we know it works for the caller. It's not an investment we've made lightly, but it works for us in terms of taking demand away from the frontline and giving the caller service then and there on the phone that they might ordinarily have had to wait for an officer to attend."

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