Police to speed up response times to catch more crimimals and protect communities

Image by dagmarbendel from Pixabay

Police forces will be forced to respond to emergency calls faster in England and Wales under new reforms.

Too often, by the time police officers arrive to the scene of a crime, perpetrators and witnesses are long gone.

Under new reforms, response officers will be expected to reach the scene of the most serious incidents within 15 minutes in cities and 20 minutes in rural areas, and forces will be expected to answer 999 phone calls within 10 seconds.

These new targets will ensure that all forces provide the same level of police response to crimes.

Currently, data on response times is collected differently across forces, and police are not held accountable if targets are not met. Reforming the system will create more transparency and consistency across the country.

Where forces fail to deliver, the Home Secretary will send in experts from the best performing forces to improve their performance, including when unmet response time targets are part of broader systemic failing.

To fight everyday crime, the government will ramp up its pledge to restore visible neighbourhood policing and patrols in communities through an extension of its Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.

This has already placed named, contactable officers in each neighbourhood. Under the extension, every council ward in England and Wales will have its own named, contactable officers, creating more local points of contact and giving officers a deeper understanding of the issues in their area.

Residents will be able to speak to officers directly to raise individual crimes and anti-social behaviour, and will be guaranteed a response to neighbourhood queries within 72 hours, outlining the steps being taken to address these issues.

Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said: “Everyday crimes are on the rise across the country and too often there seem to be no consequences.

“People are reporting crimes and then waiting hours or even days for a response. By the time the police arrive, the perpetrators and witnesses are long gone.

“I will restore neighbourhood policing and scale up patrols in communities to catch criminals and cut crime.”

There is an epidemic of everyday offences – like shoplifting, drug dealing, phone theft and anti-social behaviour – that affect communities but go unpunished. Criminals feel they can cause havoc on our streets with impunity. Shop theft has risen by 72% since 2010 and street theft is up by 58%.

Crime reporting and paperwork across law enforcement has also chained officers to their desks, while outdated systems and unnecessary forms take them away from the frontline.

To turnaround this situation, the government will slash red tape and cut unnecessary admin so that officers are back on the streets. Work is underway to review and reduce the unnecessary recording of non-crime incidents while police funding reform will give forces the flexibility to move officers from support roles to the frontline.

Police chiefs were previously forced to maintain arbitrary officer headcounts each year via the Officer Maintenance Grant. This led to forces hiring uniformed officers and then, in some cases, putting them in back-office roles instead of out in communities, tracking down suspects and attending call outs from victims.

As a result, the number of trained officers in support roles has soared by over 40% to more than 12,600 in the last six years, while the total number of officers only increased by around 20% in the same period. Back-office roles increasingly filled by uniformed officers include HR and IT support. The government will scrap this Office Maintenance Grant, marking a significant shift to put more officers in our communities and high streets to fight crime and catch criminals.

The government will continue to support the roll out of the Right Care, Right Person programme across the country, which is estimated to have saved 370,000 officer hours per year across five police forces.

The Neighbourhood Policing Pathway, a new bespoke training programme, has been set up to ensure that neighbourhood officers have the best possible tools to gather intelligence and catch offenders. The programme has been piloted in 11 forces and is currently being expanded across the country to deliver a consistent, high-quality service across forces.

On Monday, the Home Secretary is expected to announce the largest reforms to policing since the police service was founded two centuries ago.

In a white paper titled ‘From local to national: a new model for policing’, Mahmood is expected to outline a radical blueprint for reform, so local forces protect their community, and national policing protects us all. Underpinning the reforms are simple aims to catch criminals, cut crime and protect the public.

Alongside these reforms, police forces in England and Wales will receive the largest investment in British history to keep communities safe. The government is investing a record £18.4 billion to restore neighbourhood policing, cut crime and catch criminals. This is an increase of over £3 billion and an 11% real terms increase compared to 2023/24.

John Hayward-Cripps, Chief Executive of Neighbourhood Watch, said: “It’s a very basic expectation that police will respond when you report a crime, and quickly when it is serious. When that doesn’t happen, it’s not just frustrating, it is very stressful and it damages trust. The data shows that there is real variation in how well different forces respond to incidents. Police effectiveness, and the trust we place in the police, is built on the relationships that they have and maintain with the public.

“Therefore, the government introducing national standards and, crucially, the resource required to meet them is a welcome step forward. But restoring confidence won’t happen overnight, the police need to take the time to engage meaningfully with their communities too, which most of them are doing.”

Association of Convenience Stores Chief Executive James Lowman said: “Retailers tell us that the single most effective way to deter crime in communities is to have more police presence. We strongly welcome the government’s extended Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, and will work with both national government and local forces to further build the relationships between officers and businesses.

“Retailers should be confident that when they report a crime, it will be investigated, repeat offenders will be identified and effective penalties applied. The measures announced today, alongside the wider changes coming in the Crime and Policing Bill, need to deliver more effective neighbourhood policing and more of these repeat offenders being brought to justice. Local shops are committed to working with the police to make this happen.”

Paul Gerrard, Director – Campaigns, Public Affairs and Policy, Co-op said: “Co-op welcomes the government’s pledges for more visible policing and faster response times – it sends a loud and clear message as part of a crackdown on criminality. Co-op is focussed on working alongside government to British high streets and communities, and we have seen retail crime levels reduce in the Co-op during 2025 – with effective partnerships with local policing and government playing a key part in the improvements seen. Local stores play a vital role, part of the fabric of local community life, and we all must continue to do all we can to protect them.”