Demand and response

Report: 5
Date: 9 January 2001
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an overview of the MPS processes for dealing with 999 calls, outlines levels of demand and performance, describes initiatives to manage demand and improve performance and includes some details of the way forward for the future.

A. Supporting information

Introduction

1. This report describes the MPS process for dealing with 999 calls, outlines levels of demand and performance, describes initiatives to manage demand and improve performance and includes some details of the way forward for the future.

Process for handling 999 calls

2. The current structure for processing 999 calls is as follows:

Stage 1: The operator at BT, Cable and Wireless etc receives the 999 calls from the public and determines whether the caller requires police, fire or ambulance services.

Stage 2: Police calls are passed onto the MPS call handlers at New Scotland Yard. Calls come in on the primary line, where staff work to answer calls within a target time of 15 seconds. The calls will be held for no more than 2 minutes on the primary line, after which if the call has not been answered it is passed on to a secondary line, where calls may be held for up 30 seconds more. A number of emergency call handlers are dedicated to calls on the secondary line to ensure no further delay. In the rare event that the caller is further delayed, the call is transferred to a local police station on a dedicated emergency telephone line.

Stage 3: The MPS call handlers determine the urgency of the call. If the call requires the police services a CAD message – Computer Aided Despatch is created and despatched immediately to the local Borough's Control Room or Deployment Support Section. If the call does not require police assistance and/or is inappropriate use of the 999 system, the call will be terminated or the caller advised of an alternative route for their enquiry eg Citizens Advice Bureau.

Stage 4: When the Borough receives the message, officers will be deployed according to the priority grade attached to the message.

Call Receipt and Deployment Support Model

3. Prior to the current model, each MPS division operated a Control Room, which received the 999 Computer Aided Despatches, as well as in-coming non-urgent calls, created CADS and deployed police officers to both non-urgent and emergency calls. The C3i vision separates the functions of call receipt and deployment support. To meet the growing demands on the emergency services, these functions have been separated on some boroughs. Call Receipt handles in-coming calls and creates CAD messages, whilst the Deployment Support section is responsible for officer deployment.

4. This division of the control room functions began as early as November 1998, with the majority of stations affected between June 1999 and November 2000. However not all Borough's have adopted this system and 8 of the 32 Boroughs still retain a traditional control room in each of their divisions.

Patterns of demand

5. 'The MPS aims to provide an appropriate response to calls for a police emergency service' (Policing Plan 2000/2001). However, the chart below highlights the problems faced by the MPS achieving this goal.

6. The chart displays the total number of 999 calls offered over a four-year period accompanied by the percentage of these calls that were responded to within the charter time.

7. There has been a steady increase in demand made on the MPS emergency services over the four years, with a significant peak developing in 1999.

8. Comparing the beginning of 1997 (Jan) with the beginning of 2000 there has been a 37 per cent increase in the total of 999 calls made. This increase commenced in March 1999 and continued until it peaked in the summer months of 1999, which recorded the highest levels of demand over the three years. Simultaneously the number of calls responded to within the chartered 15 seconds has also increased by 26 per cent over these three years, but this has still failed to reach the performance level necessary to meet the extent of the current demand.

9. The daily average number of calls offered to the MPS each month is displayed in the chart below. This illustrates that although the current year has recorded the highest number of emergency calls, the daily averages are far more constant across the year 2000 than in 1999. 1999 displayed a steady incline from January to October, with a distinctive seasonal peak in the summer months June to August. Whereas the figures for 2000 remain consistently high, above 5500 throughout this period, consequently there is a less dramatic peak in the summer months. There is a seasonal trend evident in both 1999 and 2000, when demand steadily declines on entering the winter months October, November and December.

Note: During the period October 1999 to February 2000 special Millennium arrangements were in place, which were designed to manage anticipated demand and reduce the number of instances in which a CAD message needed to be created.

Attempts to meet the demand

10. In recognition of the increasing demands for police services, the MPS launched a public education campaign in 1999 explaining when and how to contact the police. The objective was to reduce the inappropriate use of the 999 system where many calls have been received that do not require emergency police services. To see the percentage of 999 calls offered to the MPS that are classified as "Immediate" grade CAD's (Computer Aided Dispatch) please refer to the chart in appendix 'A'.

11. In August 2000 a new protocol was agreed with the telephone operators over the handling of 'silent mobile calls', which will no longer be referred to the police. This was agreed following the millennium preparation work between MPS and BT. This will assist the MPS in managing the increasing demand provoked by the growth of mobile phones.

12. The figures begin to demonstrate these changes in May 2000 when 999 calls began to fall. The average rate is 18 per cent lower now than it was in May and the response level within charter time has increased by 12 per cent since May. This decline will also be accounted to some degree by the seasonal trend.

Performance

13. The MPS target is to answer 999 calls within 15 seconds 80 per cent of the time and arrive at an Immediate ('I') Grade incident within 12 minutes 80 per cent of the time.

The MPS is currently recording performance just below both targets. For the twelve-month period Nov 1999 to Nov 2000:

• 79 per cent of 999 calls were answered within 15 seconds
• 78 per cent of 999 arrival times were within 12 minutes.

Response to 999 calls

14. 999 call answering has improved significantly over recent months. The current success has been effected significantly by lowered levels of demand, which have decreased by 18 per cent since May. Performance levels for answering calls within 15 seconds was exceeded for the first time since January 2000 in September, when 86 per cent of the calls were answered in charter time. This has been maintained in November, which reported an increase up to 93.2 per cent. A variable that will have effected the response performance levels is the increase in staffing levels achieved through the use of an extended overtime budget of £32K a week.

Arrival times to emergency incidents

15. The chart below displays the arrival times for emergency incidents between October 1999 and October 2000. This illustrates that as the demand for police emergency services increases, the percentage of incidents dealt with within the chartered 12 minutes falls. The number of calls arrived at within 12 minutes has been maintained at a fairly consistent level.

The MPS has recognised that speed of arrival at incidents is only one factor in service provision. We need also to ensure that officers arrive safely and provide a quality service when they get there.

Customer satisfaction

16. The target of the MPS is to achieve a 90 per cent customer satisfaction rate in relation to police action in response to 999 calls. The method of assessment was changed significantly in April 2000 and it is difficult to compare current figures with those reported previously, therefore consideration will be given for the six-month period April to September 2000. During this period a satisfaction rate of 77.6 per cent was recorded, below the target.

Police collisions

17. In response to concerns about police collisions, the MPS undertook the 'Safety Driving' project in 1999, which sought to ensure that officers responding to emergency calls did not put the public or themselves at risk. Evidence from the study and the reduction of staffing levels, provoked an adjustment in 1999 to the immediate arrival target, from arriving within 12 minutes 85 per cent of the time to 80 per cent.

18. The definition of a police collision, for the purpose of this report, is a collision involving a police vehicle (including hire vehicles), driven by either a police officer or civilian member of the MPS. These incidents include actual collisions with a police vehicle, vicinity only accidents and escort collisions.

19. The MPS set targets to improve safety and reduce collisions. The police collision reduction target for the year 1999/2000 are:

• 10 per cent reduction on the 1998/99 figure of 5947 for the total number of police collisions
• 10 per cent reduction on the 1998/99 figure of 2.23 per 1000 collisions whilst responding to a 999 call.

20. The period Dec-99 to Nov-00 has recorded an annual average of 6246 police collisions, which is a 5 per cent increase from 1999. During this same period the number of collisions per 1000, occurring whilst on an emergency call has fallen to 1.70, which is an estimated 0.30 within the target. The chart above also displays the blameworthy rate of collisions that occurred when responding to 999 calls. This displays a steady decline, dropping significantly in the winter months of 2000.

21. The MPS has introduced a range of initiatives to improve driver safety and reduce collisions. One initiative has been an investment to fit police response vehicles with data recorders ('Black Boxes') to hold data about collisions.

Traffic density and location

22. Information obtained from London Street Management (Transport for London) identifies that the area in which the urgent assistance is required will play an important part in determining the arrival targets and the number of total collisions.

• Central London records an average of under 10 miles per hour all day
• Outer London records an average of 18 miles per hour during peak hours and 23 miles per hour off-peak
• Between 1991-1999, a 4 per cent increase was recorded in the total number of vehicles on the major roads of London.

Future plans to meet the growing demands

C3i Project

23. The MPS Command, Control, Communication and Information project (C3i) commenced in 1996, with the formal business case being approved in 1998. This was in response to increasing demands on police resources against static (or reducing) funding. The aim of the project is to improve the MPS's response to public requests for police assistance. C3i will transform the command and control systems within the MPS from a two-tier system operating at all 32 Boroughs into a centralised system.

C3i Business Plan and Objectives:

• to make best use of limited resources to deliver an effective police service to the public by;
• managing and satisfying the increasing public demand for police service;
• retaining the MPS's world-wide reputation for emergency response;
• ensuring that operational officers are provided with information and logistic support to maintain public and officer safety;
• providing operational and performance information to support MPS policing strategies and partnership initiatives;
• ensuring the continuous provision of mission-critical support services;
• Future legislative changes.

24. The C3i vision involves the design, building and equipping of control rooms to MPS standards. Calls not requiring a police response will be redirected at the first point of contact. The introduction of enhanced call-handling facilities and readily accessible information will improve the service provided to both the public and operational police officers. This will enable us to give more advice to members of the public over the phone, which will be informed of the action they can expect from the police. An effective immediate response to urgent incidents will be maintained.

25. C3i takes the Best Value programme into account by streamlining resources to match demand. In addition, performance management information will be readily accessible for monitoring to ensure that Best Value is being accomplished.

26. By releasing officers for patrol and responding quickly and effectively to emergency calls, C3i will make a significant contribution to tackling crime effectively.

MDT new technology

27. Mobile Data Terminals were introduced in March 2000, as part of the "Mobile Data 2000 Trial". This follows two earlier unsuccessful trials of mobile data and AVLS (Automatic Vehicle Location systems, i.e. GPS type equipment).

28. The objective of the pilot is to firstly assess the equipment currently available, with regards to supporting the future C3i service provider, and secondly to calculate the data capacity the MPS will need for the new national encrypted police radio service (BT Airwave), which we will roll out in 2003/2004. Its impact upon present 999 call handling is not a primary element of the trial, but will of course be dealt with under the evaluation.

29. The trial sites are three Boroughs (Lewisham, Hounslow and Barnet), and SO16 (Diplomatic Protection Group). Every "operational" liveried response vehicle on these four sites has been fitted with MDT's and over 1400 officers have been trained to use them, both in the vehicles and in the control rooms.

30. The trial has been separated into three phases.

Phase 1: Commenced in March 2000, which allows direct access to Police National Computer (PNC) from the car, together with the ability to send text messages from one car to another. This will reduce the radioactivity and the use of the control room resources, by allowing the officers to make their own enquiries. This may prove at the end of the trial to have improved communications with the control room from the centralised 999 switchboard, which would invariably enhance process and deployment times.

Phase 2: commencing in August, will link the MDT system into the Computer Aided Despatch, hence allowing the control room staff to despatch emergency calls using the MDT only, or together with voice radio if appropriate.

Phase 3: vehicle location element, coupled with status, still to be introduced.

31. One of the issues identified by the project is staffing levels at front-line police stations. MDT provides a way forward to improve communications and maximise the resources that are available, by facilitating officers to control general non-urgent enquires and deployment, leaving the control room free to deal with urgent calls, improving the quality and speed of the service.

Conclusion

32. This report has outlined the growing demands faced by the MPS emergency services and highlighted the methods by which the MPS has sought to meet this demand and improve performance. There have been a variety of variables explored in the report that may have had a direct effect on these figures and performance levels in recent years.

B. Recommendations

Members are asked to note the report.

C. Financial implications

None.

D. Review arrangements

A further report on response and demand can be prepared for PSPM in the next quarter.

E. Background papers

The following is a statutory list of background papers (under the Local Government Act 1972 S.100 D) which disclose facts or matters on which the report is based and which have been relied on to a material extent in preparing this report. They are available on request to either the contact officer listed below or to the Clerk to the Police Authority at the address indicated on the agenda.

None.

F. Contact details

The author of this report is Karen Turner, MPS Corporate Performance Analysis Unit.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback