Police to be set 15-minute response target for some 999 calls
Police in England and Wales will be given targets to be able to respond to emergencies within 15 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in rural areas, as part of a major overhaul to be announced later.
Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood will also promise to ensure civil servants spend more time on the streets, eliminate “red tape” and “redundant admin” which she says prevents them from leaving their posts.
Mahmood said it was a response to the epidemic of “everyday crimes” such as shoplifting and phone theft, which he said would go “with impunity”.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said it was “difficult to take seriously the words of Labour, which has removed more than 1,300 civil servants from the frontline in our communities”.
The number of full-time police officers has fallen by 1,303 by March 2025, according to Home Office figures.
Mahmood said new targets were needed as people reported crimes and then “waited hours or even days for a response”.
John Hayward-Cripps, chief executive of Neighborhood Watch, said the response targets would be a “welcome step forward” towards “the fundamental expectation that when you report a crime the police will respond”.
Most forces already have emergency response targets, but the Home Office said it was not currently possible to hold them to account if they did not meet this standard.
Failure to meet the new targets will prompt the home secretary to send in experts from high-performance forces to help improve response times.
Gavin Stephens, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said forces would not be “obsessed” with the target if they were unable to reach the call safely.
He told Times Radio that policing needed to change in response to a “wide range of threats”, including cybercrime.
Mahmood will also say he wants to change the way staffing levels are funded due to current concerns. ‘Civil servant care allowance’ encourages Some forces require uniformed officers to be deployed in administrative roles such as IT or human resources.
Nick Smart, chairman of the Association of Police Superintendents, welcomed the moves to modernize the police but said the workforce had not been consulted on the new proposals.
“We represent experts in policing – the most senior operational leaders in our service – and it is vital that our views are taken into account, alongside those of chief constables and external advisers,” he said.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said the government “must deliver on its promises” and “get more police officers on our streets”.
