Merseyside PCC responds to Cllr Simon Shaw’s comments on her draft annual report.

Jane Kennedy said: “It is not true that I claim that 83% of non-emergency calls have a police officer attending within four hours. This was a discussion regarding police response times in a draft annual report. The figures relate only to the 800 emergency 999 calls that the Force call centre receive every day, of which approximately 200 are accepted as emergencies. The remaining 999 calls are logged for action, and I have clarified that, from those remaining 600 calls, 83% of those that are deemed to be a priority are responded to within the 4 hour period.

The police receive on average 2500 calls for assistance every day that, as you would expect, receive varying responses depending upon the nature of the call. Therefore it is not true that I am claiming that more than 5 out of 6 people who call the Police control room have a police officer attending within 4 hours. However, the text in the draft annual report is not sufficiently clear, so I will re-draft it to assist the public in understanding the pressure that the Force are under.”

Police response claim provokes “I don’t believe it” response from Lib Dem Cllr Simon Shaw

Merseyside’s Labour Police Commissioner Jane Kennedy has claimed that more than 5 out of 6 people who call the Police control room have a police officer attending within 4 hours.  However this has provoked a Victor Meldrew-esque “I don’t believe it” from Birkdale Lib Dem councillor Simon Shaw.

Councillor Shaw is the longest serving member of the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel which was established in 2012 to hold the local Police Commissioner to account. Together with other members of the Panel he questioned Police Commissioner Kennedy last week on her draft Annual Report for 2017/18 http://councillors.knowsley.gov.uk/documents/s54552/Item%207a%20-%20App%20A%20-%20Draft%20Annual%20Report%202017-18.pdf?StyleType=standard&StyleSize=none

On page 16 it states that “Merseyside Police control room receives more than 2,500 calls a day…Approximately 200 will be graded as emergency calls, these are the priority incidents which the police aim to respond to within 10 minutes … For those calls that do not require an emergency response, approximately half are responded to within an hour and more than 83% will result in the attendance of a police officer within four hours.”

However Cllr Shaw’s reaction to the claim that 83% (or 5 out of 6) non-emergency calls have a police officer attending with four hours was a simple: “I don’t believe it!” and other members of the Panel backed him up in his view.  He called for Police Commissioner Kennedy to fully review the source of these statistics, and correct the statement as appropriate.

“It’s important that statistics in relation to policing and crime are absolutely clear and precise,” commented Cllr Shaw.  “This claim just doesn’t tie in with people’s own experiences.”