Wotton-under-Edge 999 response times "unacceptable" says PCC

Gloucestershire's Police and Crime Commissioner has vowed to reduce "unacceptable" police response times in part of the Cotswolds.

The issue of delays in officers reaching Wotton-under-Edge was raised at a public meeting.

The slow responses were highlighted by a constituent of Cotswold MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson admitted they were "not acceptable".

Currently, category one 999 calls - which deal with the most urgent emergencies - are being responded to within 24 minutes, with the police's own target being 15 minutes.

For category two calls, which are still important but not categorised as emergencies, the average wait in Wotton-under-Edge is four hours compared to the county-wide average of about two hours.

Earlier this year, an investigation into police waiting times by the Liberal Democrats found that Gloucestershire Constabulary took on average 18.5 hours to respond to some calls.

The concerned constituent, Mr Buckley, had raised his concern at several MP surgeries.

The meeting was held on 20 May at Sir Geoffrey's constituency office based in Cirencester, with Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Chris Nelson, town mayor councillor Martin Tucker and Mr Buckner present.

Mr Nelson said he would work with the Chief Constable to see how waiting times could be reduced.

He agreed to provide monthly reports on police response times to the Town Council, which will be available for all Wotton residents to access to see if the situation is improving.

The chief constable, Rod Hansen, also outlined plans for the enhanced police operational model which will come into effect on 6 June.

He said this should improve policing throughout the whole of Gloucestershire by anticipating demand and reducing excessive workloads on some officers.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP said after the meeting: "The current police waiting times for Wotton-under-Edge are completely unacceptable, but we had a productive meeting and I thank everyone for their work on improving this situation."

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