THE December issue of Watch News, the magazine for Neighbourhod Watch co-ordinators in the Maidstone and Malling area, has revealed details of the extent of the failure of Kent Police's new central call unit.

In one month, more than 8,500 callers rang off before the police operators answered their call.

The Force Communications Centre (FCC) that operates from Kent force's headquarters in Maidstone now receives all the calls made to police from across the county.

The centre has been criticised in recent months for its failure to answer calls - particularly from victims trying to report a crime.

In Watch News, the officer in charge of the centre, Supt Trevor Pankhurst, stressed the success of the unit in answering 999 calls.

In September, the centre received 19,222 emergency calls and answered 16,293 of them within 10 seconds.

It answered 98.6 per cent within two minutes. In 269 cases, people had to wait longer than two minutes to have their emergency call answered.

The centre also took an additional 40,000 non-emergency calls, of which it succeeded in answering 78 per cent (31,461 calls). No figures are given for the time taken to answer these calls.

More than a fifth of people gave up before their call was answered.

Supt Pankhurst acknowledged there had been "teething problems" since the combined call centre was introduced in September 2001.

But after a year, a re-evaluation had been carried out and as a result new measures were being introduced to improve efficiency.

Supt Pankhurst said: "The service we provide here at FCC is going to be a talking point, and come under intense criticism, but it is important that we move forward; continue to be positive; and address any issues that require attention.

"I am confident that the methods we have outlined in our review will improve the centre and reassure the public that this service remains our priority."

Supt Pankhurst defended the call centre's record against the efficiency of the previous system, where calls went through to a local control room.

He said: "The figures show an improvement when compared with the service provided by the nine separate Area Control rooms - the number of unanswered calls then exceeded 30 per cent in some cases."

Kent Messenger - December