POLICE forces in England and Wales will be set targets to respond to some 999 calls within 15 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in rural areas, under changes to be outlined by the government.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will say the move is aimed at addressing what she described as an epidemic of “everyday crime”, including shoplifting and phone theft, which she said was going “unpunished”.
Mahmood said new targets were needed because people were reporting crimes and then “waiting hours or even days for a response”. She will also pledge to cut “red tape” and “unnecessary admin”, which she said prevents officers from spending more time on the streets, the BBC reported.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was “hard to take Labour’s promises seriously when they have stripped more than 1,300 officers from the front line in our communities”.
Home Office figures show the number of full-time police officers fell by 1,303 in the year to March 2025.
John Hayward-Cripps, chief executive of Neighbourhood Watch, said the response targets would be a “welcome step forward” towards the “basic expectation that police will respond when you report a crime”.
The Home Office said most forces already have emergency response targets, but there is currently no system to hold them accountable if standards are not met. Failure to reach the new targets would allow the home secretary to send in experts from high-performing forces.
Chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Gavin Stephens said forces would not “obsess” over a target if they could not reach a call safely. Speaking to Times Radio, he said policing needed to adapt to threats including cyber-crime.
The targets form part of wider policing reforms, including a new National Police Service, a licensing system for officers, and a reduction in the number of police forces.
Police Superintendents’ Association president Nick Smart said the workforce had not been consulted. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said the government “must deliver” and “get more officers back onto our streets”.
