Mike Shellfish, Somerset Commissioner for Police Crime, has announced that he is “over the moon” after it was revealed that the force came first in a survey to see who can snatch a receiver from a telephone base the fastest.
“We are absolutely delighted to become a World Record Holder under the category of ‘Fastest Response time to a Ringing Phone’ . Our call handlers have shown that they can answer a telephone in under 9.4 milli-seconds, which is an outstanding achievement!
Obviously, the response time of an actual police officer to the scene of a crime is considerably longer – if indeed they bother to turn up at all, rather than just issue a crime number – but I’m sure that it is highly reassuring for the victims of crime to know that we can at least tell them that someone will be on their way. Tomorrow. Next week. Or never.
Anyone calling the 999 emergency number to report a crime can expect a sympathetic ear to listen to their problem within seconds. Calls to the 101 not-quite-an-emergency-but-still-very-stressful number, can expect their call to be answered within two weeks.