A POLICE force has revealed the growing pressure on its 999 service as new figures reveal a sizeable increase in emergency calls.

Statistics from North Yorkshire Police show that the Force Control Room (FCR) dealt with 7,409 emergency 999 calls last month.

This is a 12 per cent increase on the same point last year and a 17.5 per cent increase from the previous month, April 2018, when 6,307 999 calls were made.

Despite this, 999 calls made in May 2018 were dealt with by the Force Control Room within an average of eight seconds.

20,469 101 non-emergency calls were also received in May, with callers experiencing an average waiting time of one minute 55 seconds.

Again a similar year-on increase in volume was seen in non-emergency calls.

Speaking about the ongoing changes in demand, Charlotte Bloxham, Chief Inspector for the Force Control Room, said: “Since summer 2017, we have seen a huge increase in the number of calls coming through to the FCR, and these latest figures suggest that demand shows no signs of slowing.

“Last year, all police forces across the UK saw a huge leap in call figures.

“Here at North Yorkshire Police, we saw call 999 volumes increase from 4,911 calls in January 2017 to a peak of 8,551 in August 2017.

“Taking note of the changing demand picture, we have made some fundamental changes within the FCR, which have allowed us to handle the continuous pull on resources and ensure calls are answered as quickly as possible.”

Chf Insp Bloxham said the changes include recruiting more call handlers, improving our auto-switchboard and voice recognition software and introducing an operator and call back service for 101.

The region’s Police and Crime Commissioner has also invested £3m to continue the improvements.

A recruitment campaign is currently underway, to further strengthen the workforce and a newly-built call centre facility is due to be unveiled soon at Fulford Road in York.