West Yorkshire Police marks five years without any abandoned 999 calls

Last month, West Yorkshire Police achieved an unprecedented five years without any abandoned 999 calls, which are real calls for service that don’t get answered before the caller disconnects.

These are different from dropped 999 calls, which is when someone accidentally calls 999 and the call is disconnected by the caller after being connected to the police.

Tom Donohoe, customer contact centre manager, said: “I don’t believe this has been achieved in policing previously.

“This is a huge achievement for the team when you think that our call handlers take an average of over 1,300 999 calls every day.

“We still have issues with people hanging up after they or their child accidentally phones 999 and I would reiterate the recent advice that we issued to please stay on the line if this does happen so we can ensure that you are safe and not in need of assistance.

“On average, our call handlers manage around 3,800 contacts from members of the public on any given day, and this can increase significantly during warm weather for example, the total includes calls via 999 and 101 and online contacts.

“People can help us to ensure that we continue to answer every call from those most at risk by only calling 999 when there is a threat to life or crime in progress and using our online contact options wherever possible in a non-emergency.”