Lib Dem Mayoral Candidate, Rob Blackie, has criticised the Met Police for taking “far too long” to respond to domestic abuse 999 calls, while a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed the force is missing its targets to respond to “significant” 999 calls by over an hour.
An FOI request by Rob Blackie shows that overall response time for 999 calls reporting Domestic Abuse has risen by over a minute from 625 seconds in 2016 to 703 seconds in 2023 – an increase of 12%.
A related FOI request made by Blackie also reveals that response times to ‘Significant’ 999 calls have slowed by 61% from 84 minutes in 2017 to 125 minutes in 2023.
“Significant” is the second-highest grade of call, just below “Immediate”, where an urgent but not emergency response is required. The target to respond to these calls is 60 minutes
Lib Dem Mayoral Candidate, Rob Blackie, said, “The police are taking far too long to respond to domestic abuse calls, with response times rising by 61% since 2017. These are critical calls, where a slow response can be the difference between life and death.
“The Mayor needs to urgently get a grip and organise the Met Police’s resources so that domestic violence is treated with the urgency it deserves.”
“Police response to Significant 999 calls is also far too slow, now taking more than two hours. The public has a right to expect better.”
