Over half 101 calls going unanswered in Greater Manchester

by Lib Dem team on 31 July, 2017

Lib Dem campaigner Claire Halliwell has found that over half 101 calls are going unanswered by Police

A survey by the Liberal Democrats has found that 53% of people who called 101 – the non-emergency Police phone number – gave up before speaking to the Police.

Most people who did get through waited for more than five minutes, with some waiting for 30 minutes or more for the call to be answered.

The scale of the problem was uncovered by Claire Halliwell, Stockport Liberal Democrat spokesperson on crime.

“Thousands of crimes are going unrecorded and people are wasting hours sitting on the phone. It also means the Police are missing half the picture on crime. Important intelligence is being missed, meaning the Police may not be targeting their efforts efficiently,” said Claire.

Helen Foster-Grime, Lib Dem communities spokesperson, emphasised concern about the affect this is having on victims of crime when they are at their most vulnerable.

“The Conservative government must take the blame for ill-advised cuts to police funding since 2015. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has responsibility for how the police budget is spent and we will be writing to urge him to sort this out. Cutting funding for the 101 number is a false economy,” said Helen.

   6 Comments

6 Responses

  1. Arthur Lampkin says:

    Surely it is better to answer all serious crime by answering all the 999 calls. You do realise that the 999 calls and the 101 calls are answered by the same call handlers so naturally 999 calls take preference. You can call a 101 crime in at anytime so yes you have to wait or just keep trying. If it is that important you will keep trying.

  2. Iain Roberts says:

    Arthur – yes, of course 999 needs to take priority. And the call centre should be resourced so that they can do both – not have half the people trying to report crimes give up.

  3. John Ellis says:

    I had to wait 25 minutes reporting a crime on 101, clearly this is not fit for purpose.

  4. Keith Huxley says:

    In this day and age why is it not possible to record minor crime via the internet, this would ensure that the crime is recorded, cut down on phone bills, and release manpower for the more important calls.

  5. John H says:

    The vast majority of people reporting crimes do so to get a crime report number for their insurance claim and do not expect any police investigation.
    No insurance why bother. With that in mind now calculate crime figures!

  6. Gary says:

    I tried an incident – back in March – where 3 lads were acting suspiciously. I eventually sent an email to Stockport Police, as I couldn’t get a response from 101.
    It turns out they broke into a house and stole a lot of property.
    The police were very interested in my report, as I was the only person who had witnessed that vehicle in the area of the crime.
    I then had to make a statement to the police so they could keep him in custody.

    If I hadn’t been so persistent, this person would have been FREE to do it again.

    I am sorry, but the way 101 is handled today, just doesn’t work. Therefore it is not fit for purpose !

    Something needs to be done.

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