Police taking up to 17 and a half hours to respond to anti-social behaviour calls 

EMBARGO: 22.30 Thursday 18th April

Average police response times to anti-social behaviour incidents have increased by 37% since 2021, with some forces taking an average of 17 and a half hours to arrive at the scene, shocking new figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed. 

The figures were obtained through a series of Freedom of Information requests to all police forces in England. 27 forces provided full responses. 

In 2023, it took an average of 3 hours and 40 minutes across police forces for an officer to turn up to the scene of anti-social behaviour incidents. This is an increase of 34% compared to average wait times across police forces in 2021, which stood at 2 hours and 44 minutes.

The figures revealed a disturbing postcode lottery, with huge differences in average response times between police forces. 

Suffolk had the longest wait times in England last year, with police taking an average of 17 and a half hours to attend anti-social behaviour reports, followed closely behind by Norfolk where wait times were 17 hours and 29 minutes. Cambridgeshire also had extremely long wait times, which stood at 11 and a half hours. 

Meanwhile, anti-social behaviour calls in Essex were attended to in less than 8 minutes on average. 

In recent years, some forces also experienced huge deteriorations in wait times. In Surrey, where Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey will be making a campaigning visit today, wait times have increased by 281% since 2021, up to nearly 5 and a half hours.

London wait times have more than tripled in that same time period, up a staggering 353%.

The shocking figures come just months after the Crime Survey for England and Wales found that in the year ending September 2023, more than one third of people had experienced or witnessed some type of anti-social behaviour, with the police recording 1 million incidents.

The Liberal Democrats have slammed the Conservative Government for these figures, arguing that years of ineffective resourcing have left local police forces overstretched, under-resourced and unable to effectively respond to local crime. This includes taking more than 4,500 community officers (PCSOs) off the streets since 2015. 

The party is calling for a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible and trusted, with the time and resources to focus on tackling neighbourhood crime like anti-social behaviour.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: 

“For its victims, anti-social behaviour can be relentless, overwhelming and deeply distressing. Being left to wait hours, wondering if a police officer will turn up and help, only adds to that stress.  

“Nobody should be afraid to walk down their own street. But this is the consequence of years of ineffective resourcing from the Conservatives and a diminished frontline police presence. 

“The British people deserve to feel confident that if they do fall victim to crime, the police will turn up swiftly. That’s why it’s time to finally restore proper community policing, with officers focused on their local neighbourhoods.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors: 

This data was uncovered by a FOI to all 39 police forces in England. Their responses, which can be accessed here, provided the following data: 

• The average time (in hours:minutes:second) it takes for police to arrive on the scene of anti-social behaviour incidents in your force for the following calendar years: 2023, 2022 and 2021.

Some forces further disaggregated their data depending on the priority ranking of the anti-social behaviour incident. In these cases, we found an average between all the categories provided.  

Data on PCSO workforce available at: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 30 September 2023: data tables’, Table 3. 

Data on anti-social behaviour from the Crime Survey for England and Wales can be found online at ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2023.