In mid-August, Sussex Police celebrated an outstanding achievement for being the fastest police force in the country to answer 999 calls for 12 consecutive months.
Over 98% of 999 calls were answered within 10 seconds, outperforming every other force in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland between August 2025 and July 2026. Sussex residents will be delighted to hear that this is the first time any police force has topped the table for a whole year.
This sustained level of excellent performance is no coincidence. Over recent years, thanks to residents paying more through police precept tax increases, I have enabled Sussex Police to target investment in technology, processes and additional contact centre staff to ensure our force continues to deliver the high-quality service that residents expect.
We cannot forget that behind these impressive statistics is a team of dedicated staff and officers working around the clock to support the public when they need it most.
Sussex Police has adopted advanced data analytics, providing a clear overview of demand on the Force Contact and Control Room. They match that to staff and available resources which means they can deploy officers and staff much more effectively and quicky to where a police response is needed most.
Recent surveys of European countries show that British citizens are quite proactive about reporting crimes, with roughly 30% having reported an incident to the police. Whilst this is matched by 31% in Sweden, it contrasts sharply with France, where only 7% of the public report crimes to police. Feedback shows that this is often due to complicated and layered reporting processes as well as complex paperwork or a lack of faith in actionable outcomes.
The 999 service was launched in London on 30 June 1937 and it was the world’s first emergency ‘phone number. A notice in the Evening News advised the public how to use it. “Only dial 999… if the matter is urgent; if, for instance, the man in the flat next to yours is murdering his wife or you have seen a heavily masked cat burglar peering round the stack pipe of the local bank building.
“If the matter is less urgent, if you have merely lost little Towser or a lorry has come to rest in your front garden, just call up the local police.”
It wasn’t long before the first arrest from a 999 call was made in Hampstead on 7 July 1937. Architect John Stanley Beard was disturbed by a noise under his bedroom window and saw a man who ran down his garden and over the fence. Mrs Beard called 999 and police responded almost immediately, apprehending a 24 year-old labourer Thomas Duffy who was charged with an attempted break-in.
Mr Beard said: “My wife made use of the new signal which we were instructed to use yesterday on the telephone, and as a result of using that signal almost instantaneous connection was made with the police station, and in less than five minutes this man was arrested,” he said.
“It struck me, as a householder and fairly large taxpayer, that we are getting something for our money, and I was very much impressed by it.”
Of the 1,336 calls made to 999 in 1937, 91 were prank calls. Between August 2025 and July this year, Sussex Police received nearly 290,000 calls and it is estimated that around 20% of these were prank, hoaxes or nuisance calls – from people complaining about takeaway deliveries to persistent callers.
In 2023, a Horsham man was jailed for three years for making over 7,000 nuisance calls which wasted over 400 hours of police and ambulance time and, last year, a Portslade woman was given a suspended sentence for making over 300 calls over a six-month period.
Whilst our dedicated Control Room staff are used to dealing with those in crisis and vulnerable and mentally unwell people, it is hugely frustrating for them when timewasters and persistent or aggressive callers take up valuable time that could be allocated to people in real need.
Sussex residents have consistently told me they want a police service that is accessible, responsive and there when they need it most. The fantastic achievement of Sussex Police remaining at the top of the 999 call-handling table for a whole year should reassure local people that, when they need help in an emergency, the police are there for them.
I am particularly grateful to residents who agreed to pay more in the police precept element of their council tax because this extra funding has helped make improvements like these possible. In future columns, I will cover in more detail where that extra funding has also helped launch specialist teams and bolster capacity.
