999 Response Times 2012-2024
Request
1. The categories of 999 calls used by the police force in 2012 (i.e. to prioritise 999 calls), and the descriptors of each category
2. The average response time to 999 calls for each category in calendar year 2012
3. The categories of 999 calls used by the police force in 2015, and the descriptors of each category
4. The average response time to 999 calls for each category in calendar year 2015
5. The categories of 999 calls used by the police force in 2019, and the descriptors of each category
6. The average response time to 999 calls for each category in calendar year 2019
7. The categories of 999 calls used by the police force in 2021, and the descriptors of each category
8. The average response time to 999 calls for each category in calendar year 2021
9. The categories of 999 calls used by the police force in 2022, and the descriptors of each category
10. The average response time to 999 calls for each category in calendar year 2022
11. The categories of 999 calls used by the police force in 2023, and the descriptors of each category
12. The average response time to 999 calls for each category in calendar year 2023
13. The categories of 999 calls used by the police force in 2024, and the descriptors of each category
14. The average response time to 999 calls for each category in calendar year 2024 to date
Clarification from requester
Just to clarify, "response time to 999 calls" in the FOI request below (and attached) refers to the time taken for police to attend following a call, rather than the time taken to answer the phone.
Response
We approached the administrator for South Yorkshire Police’s Incident Management System. The Smart system records the majority of calls to South Yorkshire Police requiring the specific deployment of police resources, whether reported by members of the public via 999 or 101 or ‘happened upon’ by officers and staff in the course of their duties. The log runs as a running commentary of an incident as it unfolds and has limited search capability.
Please note regarding all the even numbered questions - Unfortunately, they were not able to provide the average response times for all the different 999 categories as this would take beyond the allowed time, and it doesn’t already exist.
For questions 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 please see attached spreadsheet - 24.011142.
For questions 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 please see the above paragraph.
Please note, every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that data has been extracted from data sources used by this force for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording systems and information assets.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures/data for any requests may have limitations, and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
Police forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures for capturing the data. For these reasons this response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with responses you may receive from other police forces.