Duncan critical of 101 wait times after person kept on hold for one hour
A COUNCILLOR has criticised Police Scotland’s 101 wait times after he said a Lerwick resident waited almost one hour for someone to respond.
Allison Duncan, who chairs the Shetland community safety and resilience board, said the same person had tried three times to get through – and eventually waited 59 minutes on one call.
He said that the situation they were reporting “could have deteriorated” quite seriously before officers had even arrived on the scene.
Duncan said the person was trying to report anti-social behaviour in the Lerwick Lanes.
He claimed that there had been a number of issues throughout August, including people spitting on doors and windows, and a property wall being damaged.
There were also incidents of underage drinking, aggressive behaviour and glass being smashed, Duncan claimed.
It comes after police area commander Chris Sewell told Shetland News on Tuesday they had to focus on “higher harm areas” such as sexual violence and domestic abuse.
Anti-social behaviour ‘relatively low’ as police prioritise ‘higher harm’ incidents
Sewell said they were working with teams to reduce anti-social behaviour in Lerwick, but said the numbers being reported were “relatively low”.
But Duncan said incidents were still ongoing, and said residents were frustrated by what they were seeing.
In terms of 101 waiting times, Sewell told today’s (Wednesday) community safety and resilience meeting they were aware it was a national issue.
He said the average wait for a 101 call to be answered was nine minutes and 39 seconds, but said this had “more than doubled” in recent years.
Sewell added that folk “shouldn’t be fearful of using 999 if a crime is ongoing”.
A new local email address is also being launched for the community to report incidents to local officers, though Sewell said this was not being run 24 hours a day and should not be for reporting a live crime.
Duncan also questioned if the local alcohol by-law was “fit for purpose”, saying that there were reports of people drinking in Lerwick’s Harrison Square.
However Sewell said it was “absolutely” fit for purpose, and said police would address anyone seen to be drinking in public.
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