WORSENING MET EMERGENCY RESPONSE TIMES 'PUTTING PUBLIC AT RISK'

10.39.52am GMT Fri 10th Dec 2004

A detailed new examination of 999 emergency police call outs released today by the London Assembly Liberal Democrats has uncovered a marked deterioration in response times right across the capital.

The Met Police have targets to make sure that all highest priority 999 emergency call outs are responded to within 12 minutes. The figures taken and analysed by the Liberal Democrats from Mayoral Answers, show that:-

· The number of highest priority 999 police calls responded to within the target of 12 minutes has fallen from 75.2% in December 2002, to just 70.63% in October 2004

· The Met Police wide average response time has exceeded the 12-minute target for every month of the last year. In the worst month, the target was missed by around 25%, with average response times taking almost 15minutes

· 19 out of 33 (58%) of Boroughs have slower average emergency response times compared to last year

The 5 Boroughs with the poorest record of attending emergency 999 police calls within 12 minutes were:-

· Bromley with 44% of callouts outside target

· Waltham Forest with 42% of callouts within target

· Hounslow with 41% of callouts outside target

· Brent with 37% of callouts outside target

· Barking and Dagenham with 36% of callouts outside target

In April 2004, the Met highlighted that it was 1,000 drivers short in London Boroughs.

Commenting on the figures, London Assembly Policing Spokesperson Lynne Featherstone said:-

"When faced with an emergency, members of the public have a right to expect the police to get to the scene quickly. What is clear from these figures is that you get a slower service if you live in outer London compared to inner London.

"Poor response times to 999 calls by the police puts the public's safety at risk as a delay in responding to an emergency call could mean the difference between life and death, or catching a criminal and letting them escape.

"The police clearly have a lot of work to do. Londoners will want to know why response times are getting worse when police numbers and investment in policing are up - especially when another significant hike in the police precept on our Council Tax is more than likely."

ENDS

Notes to editor

In a report to the Met Police Authority on the 22nd April 2004 Met Commissioner Sir John Stevens identified that the Met was 1,000 additional Borough based drivers short of what was needed:-

"19. It has been identified that an absence of police drivers at a borough level has impacted upon police response times. Particularly the larger outer boroughs. Eight boroughs have indicated that they are 50% below the level of drivers required to meet their demands. Across the MPS it has been identified that there is a need for around 1000 additional borough based drivers."

http://www.mpa.gov.uk/committees/ppr/2004/040422/06.htm

The figures were taken from Mayoral answers in November, and analysed by the Liberal Democrats. They can be obtained by e-mail to [email protected]