Staffordshire Police take over 10 seconds to answer 999 calls

VoM News Desk | September 14, 2025 | 03:27 PM IST | Breaking News, World | Follow on Google News

Staffordshire Police take over 10 seconds to answer 999 calls

•  Staffordshire Police is the fourth slowest force in the UK, with an average emergency call wait time of 10.50 seconds. 

• The study analysed Police.UK data on 999 call answering times between April and June 2025.  

• Lincolnshire Police is the quickest to answer emergency calls, taking just 4.31 seconds on average. 

New data reveals which UK police forces take the longest to answer emergency 999 calls.

The study, conducted by personal injury expertsclaims.co.uk, examined data from Police.UK on 999 call answering times between April and June 2025, ranking UK police forces based on their speed in responding to emergency calls. All the top ten forces answer emergency calls in under 6 seconds on average, demonstrating the high standard of emergency response across these areas. 

The Metropolitan Police Service has the longest emergency call wait times at 16.84 seconds between April and June, which is 9.09 seconds slower than the UK’s average. May was the police force’s slowest month at 17.62 seconds before lowering slightly to 16.24 seconds in June.  

Dorset Police ranks as the second slowest force, with an average 999 wait time of 10.90 seconds between April and June, 3.15 seconds slower than the national average. Dorset’s call response times ranged from 10.78 seconds in April to 11.02 seconds in June.  

Police Scotland and Staffordshire Police follow in third and fourth place, with average emergency response times of 10.73 secondsand 10.50 seconds, respectively. The fifth slowest police force to answer 999 calls is Essex Police, with an average wait time of 10.49 seconds from April to June 2025.  

Table 1: UK police forces with the slowest emergency call response times in 2025

At the other end of the study, Lincolnshire Police is the fastest force at answering emergency calls, with anaverage response time of 4.31 seconds between April and June, which is 3.44 seconds quicker than the nation’s average of 7.75 seconds. June recorded the police force’s slowest month at 5.21 seconds, while May saw their quickest responses at 3.78 seconds. 

In joint second place, Sussex Police and Avon and Somerset Constabulary recorded identical average response times of 4.73 seconds between April and June, 3.02 seconds faster than average. Sussex Police saw consistent response times ranging from 4.70 seconds in April to 4.76 seconds in May. Avon and Somerset Constabulary showed slightly more variation, with their quickest month being April at 4.37 seconds and their slowest being June at 4.99 seconds. 

Dyfed-Powys Police follows in third place, with an average response time 2.61 seconds quicker than the UK’s average, at 5.14 seconds. Dyfed-Powys’ response time was 5.46 seconds in May, before lowering to 4.93 seconds in June 2025. 

In fourth place, Derbyshire Constabulary answered 999 calls at an average of5.26 seconds between April and June, 2.49 seconds quicker than the national average. The police force’s answering times ranged between 5.18 to 5.41 seconds across the three-month period.  

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Table 2: UK police forces with the fastest emergency call response times in 2025

Cambridgeshire Constabularyranks fifth, with an average response time of 5.32 seconds between April and June, which is 2.43 seconds quicker than the nation’s average. There was a notable increase over the three-month period, rising from 4.49 seconds in April to 6.57 seconds in June. 

Gwent Police secures sixth place, with an average of 5.49 seconds. Kent Police and Northamptonshire Policefollow closely in seventh and eighth position, with 5.61 seconds and 5.68 seconds, respectively. Humberside Police ranks ninth, with an average response time of 5.82 seconds. At 5.93 seconds, West Yorkshire Policecompletes the top ten UK police forces with the fastest 999 wait times. 

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