THE Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner has vowed to closely monitor emergency response times after concerns were raised over the length of time officers are taking to respond to some calls outs in St Helens.


A representative for Jane Kennedy attended a safer communities meeting held at St Helens Town Hall and told the panel the commissioner was concerned over a fall in grade one response times.


This comes after Merseyside Police introduced a new operating model, involving some of the force’s response function being centralised, in January.


At the meeting, Mike Berry, the PCC’s community engagement officer for St Helens and Knowsley, spoke of Ms Kennedy consulting with the public over police response times and added she was “concerned” that police response times to 999 calls had “dropped” since the “massive changes” to policing.


The new policing model, introduced following Government-set budget cuts, means the force’s areas – St Helens, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton and Wirral – retain neighbourhood policing and some response staff, but elements of response have been centralised so officers can be deployed to areas of greatest need.


A spokesman for Merseyside Police said response times fell in St Helens by around five per cent between January and February, and by around seven per cent in Knowsley.


But the force insisted this had improved in the past two months.
In January, 83.1 per cent of Grade 1 emergency calls were responded to within the police’s 10-minute target. In February this fell to 78.9 per cent, however in March and April this increased slightly to 79 and 80.8 per cent, respectively.


A spokesperson for Commissioner Kennedy said: “Merseyside Police sets very high standards for itself. While many forces, including our north west neighbours, expect their patrols to reach a Grade 1 emergency call within 15 or 20 minutes, here on Merseyside the force has a self-imposed 10-minute response time.”


She added: “There was a small decrease in the number of emergency calls responded to within that limit from January into February in the St Helens area. Steps have already been taken to address this issue and it is reassuring that there has already been an improvement from March into April. 


“As with all new systems, the new operating model which the force introduced at the end of January, will take time to bed in, but it is vital that it doesn’t impact on the service people receive when they need to pick up the phone and call 999 (...) I will continue to monitor these figures closely to ensure the most serious calls are being responded to within that important 10-minute limit.”


Area commander for St Helens, Chief Superintendent Louise Harrison, said: “Merseyside Police has gone through a period of significant change in recent months, with the introduction of a new operating model across the force in January. 


“In St Helens, we had a small initial decrease in response times following the implementation of the new model, but we are now seeing an increase, currently getting to more than 80 per cent of 999 calls in St Helens within this target time.” 


She added: “Major change in any organisation inevitably brings with it a period of readjustment and we are constantly reviewing our processes to ensure that communities come first. With fewer resources, we needed to restructure and ensure we have the right resources in the right places throughout the day and night. 


“In the new model, some resources have been centralised, but we are committed to maintaining a local policing presence in our local communities to ensure our neighbourhoods get the service they require and still have a local link. 


“What this means for St Helens, as with the whole force, is that when incidents happen, the nearest patrol can be sent and will not be constrained by boundaries on a map.

"Shift patterns are now more staggered meaning that we will no longer have periods of time when shifts are handing over to each other.”