Silence At The End Of The Thin Blue Line

Written by Graham Tope on Thu 27th Feb 2003

There are times when you want to speak to a local police officer with knowledge of your community. Maybe you want advice on when your local police station is open, or to report an incident you may have witnessed or to get help in making your home more secure.

But a recent survey by the London Assembly Lib Dems found that despite police numbers being up by over 3000 since January 2001, being able to talk to a local officer about a non-urgent matter remains a considerable challenge.

Earlier this year, our researchers called police stations across the capital to get non-urgent advice from an officer. However, out of 132 stations, 52 failed to even answer their telephone. That's four out of ten calls where we were left 'hanging on the telephone'.

In some boroughs, callers were unable to connect to ANY of the police stations. Researchers who did get to speak to a police officer often had to wait extremely long times to be connected - getting through to Willesden Green took over six minutes. And while trying to contact some stations such as Kentish Town, our researchers had to admit defeat after 100 rings with no answer.

This is just unacceptable from a public service. The police are there to serve and reassure the public, to provide advice and reassurance when it is needed. When it is so difficult for callers to contact their local station, there is a risk the local community will be left feeling isolated and cut off from the police force that serves it.

Worryingly, people are turning to the 999 emergency response service to speak to an officer when they are unable to get through to their local station. Almost 70 per cent of calls made to 999 do not require an urgent response, clogging up the system and reducing the effectiveness of the police in dealing with genuine emergencies.

My colleague on the Metropolitan Police Authority, London Assembly member Lynne Featherstone, has written to every local police chief asking them to identify how the performance of their stations in answering non-urgent calls can be improved.

A better service to the public would help dispel the belief that the police are hard to get hold of and, most importantly, it would reduce the burden on the 999 service, allowing the police to respond promptly and swiftly with genuine emergencies.