Welcome from Simon Shaw for Police Commissioner Kennedy’s agreement to redraft“misleading” police response stats

Welcome from Simon Shaw for Police Commissioner Kennedy’s agreement to redraft“misleading” police response stats

Merseyside’s Labour Police Commissioner Jane Kennedy has now agreed to redraft her annual report after Birkdale Lib Dem councillor and long-serving Police Panel member Simon Shaw pointed out misleading statistics over police response times.

A week ago the Merseyside Police & Crime Panel had the opportunity to consider her draft report for 2017/18.  In it, Commissioner Kennedy claimed 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.”

Earlier this week https://www.otsnews.co.uk/police-response-claim-provokes-i-dont-believe-response-lib-dem-cllr-simon-shaw/ Councillor Shaw had expressed his disbelief at the claim that 83% (or 5 out of 6) non-emergency calls have a police officer attending with four hours, saying “this claim just doesn’t tie in with people’s own experiences.”  Hecalled on Police Commissioner Kennedy to fully review the source of these statistics, and correct the statement as appropriate.

“I’m delighted that Jane Kennedy has done this and now acknowledges that ‘the text in the draft annual report is not sufficiently clear’.  She also says she ‘will re-draft it to assist the public’ which is exactly what I asked for” says Cllr Shaw.

Councillor Shaw wrote to the Police Commissioner’s Office on Monday concerning the section on police response times, and said this:

‘I am concerned that gives the clear impression that, of all the calls that involve a crime (however minor e.g. garden shed break in), within the total daily average of 2,500+, then 200 or so get a very prompt emergency response, and an amazing 83% of all the others get a visit within 4 hours.

My suspicion is that it is more likely that 83% of (non-emergency) crime calls which the Control Centre categorise as being “worthy” of a visit get an attendance within 4 hours – but that is not what the two paragraphs in the draft Annual Report says.’

“From what we have been told so far that seems to be broadly how the mistake has arisen.  I did ask for the original Police statistics on which Jane Kennedy’s statement is based and I look forward to seeing them in full in due course.”