High demand on Police overnight

During the hottest weather on record in the UK, Humberside Police staff and officers are working hard to keep you safe during the extreme evening heat.

During Wednesday nights heat, Force Control Room Superintendent Tracy Bradley said, “We have had an exceptionally busy 24 hours with 1793 calls coming into our force control room at Hessle.

“That is 74 calls per hour – and over one per minute!

“Of those 1793 calls 585 were 999 calls and 1208 were to our 101 non-emergency line.

“The weather is clearly having an effect on people and we are at full-stretch.  We are staffed to cope with these levels of demand in the Force Control Room and had 69 call handlers on duty throughout that period to take calls.

“It’s really important to us that we have the right people in place so that we’re there when you need us, so we plan our time around you, our teams don’t take their lunch breaks when the majority of people do, so we have as many people as possible answering the phones when it’s convenient for you to call.

“We also limit the number of people who are able to take time off over the summer and encourage those who can to take their leave at less busy times.

“The weather is nicer, the nights are lighter and that always leads to additional demand for us.

“Callers may experience delays in us responding to their calls and we would ask for people to be patient.  Anyone who is reporting non-urgent incidents or matters should also consider reporting online or using our call-back service.

“In an emergency call 999, but that line should be used only for emergencies.

“These levels have had an impact on calls for our services and our officers were, as a result, extremely busy last night.”

Superintendent Andrew Foster who is head of our Criminal Justice Unit said, “In the twelve-hour period between 7pm on 24 July and 7am on 25 July 27 people were arrested and ended up in our cells at Clough Road (20) in Hull and Birchin Way (7)  in Grimsby, these were in addition to those already in our cell blocks under investigation.

“Many of those arrested were processed throughout the night and released for crimes such as affray and criminal damage and some were detained for further questioning or for court for cases such as assaulting a police officer and GBH.

“Our staff and officers have been working extremely hard in processing prisoners and today the picture is still looking busy but manageable with 25 people currently in custody across the force.  17 people are in Clough Road custody suite and 8 are in Birchin Way.”

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