To ask how long police that to respond to 999 calls

[User5556774]

I’ve been watching a lot of crime shows and the police always turn up within seconds. Is this the same in real life.

It depends on what is being reported, and how busy they are. They can be there within minutes for serious offences where someone is at risk of harm, but if someone is reporting a burglary that has already happened they might be a few days, or they might not even call out at all.

I've repeatedly had to call for a neighbour with an abusive ex, and they can literally be there before the call has ended.

When I had to call them they were there before I hung up.

I had to ring 999 once as I had an intruder in my garden. The police arrived with a sniffer dog within minutes. The operator waited on the phone with me.

Called them in London once heard a man attacking his wife
Literally around less than a minute two cars were on their way could hear the sirens

Called them at my home when ex decided to attack my MIL and it took around an hour possibly more

Tbf we had an attempted burglary a few years back.
They were nearly in and we phoned the police, and husband scared them of.
They were at ours in mins with a police dog.
Unfortunately never did catch whoever did it though.

In my experience, around 30 minutes- an hour whenever I’ve called them.

There was a TV series earlier this year that highlighted that the city I live in has one of the most under funded police forces in the country though so it’s not surprising.

Only experience I have is years ago we lived in a flat and heard sounds like downstairs was being broken into. Called police and in less than five minutes two cars and a van turned up. Turned out it was the downstairs neighbour doing good knows what but really cannot fault the police response

I called them when I saw someone walking out of the nursery opposite my house. And the suspect escaped onto the railway line. They were there before input the phone down. Turns out that the school at the end of the road had also been broken it to. They got the trains stopped very quickly. Presume they caught him. As he was quite distinctive.

When I called them because my alcoholic husband was threatening to kill me, they were there in under 4 minutes. They were completely brilliant.

I have never had to call the police in an emergency but we live in the sticks so I wouldn't expect a response within minutes anyway.
Thanks to cuts our police are stretched to breaking point.
I guess it wouldn't make good telly to be with a patrol that turns up to a burglary two days later.
Not so long ago a shop in a nearby town was being robbed, people were just walking out of the shop with this poor guys stock, he called 999 but there was just no help available, they didn't get to him until the following day !

A genuine emergency the force I used to work for aim for 15 minutes maximum. Obviously some people ring 999 when they've broken a nail though.
I've rang them before for intruders and they've arrived before I've hung up.

For something life threatening, suspect on scene for something serious etc, aim time is 15 minutes. For most other things it's an hour.

Doesn't always go that way.

I rang when the opposite neighbours were having a fight in the street and they arrived while I was still on the phone - so a couple of minutes. The police station is only about half a mile away though lol

Knife fight in a park - five minutes
Road accident where cyclist knocked off bike by truck - similar
Teenagers depositing something suspicious looking in garden area - an hour or so (I think, I didn't see them come, they called afterwards to say it had been potential weapons, but not guns).
Amazingly, people with threatening dogs in a non-dog park - about ten minutes - they arrested them for alcohol offences rather than the dogs, but quite satisfying.

2 different counties. One friend called 999 because armed men were in her house. They turned up later that day to give her a crime number.

Another friend who has an abusive Stbxh that she has an injunction on, A group of him and his male relatives were banging on her door late at night and trying to gain entry. She called the emergency number she had been given and the police turned up the following afternoon.

Woeful response times.

Reporting a drink driver and they are there immediately

We are fairly rural, so I would think that round here sometimes it depends on whether they are already busy, and how far away the next available officers are.

As others have said it's usually dependant on what you're calling for and probably where you live. Until our local station was reopened, it could take 20 -30 mins for an emergency response here, say for a bad traffic accident (I live near a blackspot) just because of the distances involved and the roads they have to drive on. We had problems with break ins because the criminals knew exactly how long it would take before anyone appeared and they'd be long gone. A group of local lads started patrolling and responding to things, they responded to a nursing home, shop and other premises being broken into one night and apprehended the person red handed then waited 45 minutes for a police attendance. That was the catalyst for getting our local station opened again.
Now the response is within 5-10 minutes, or was the last accident that happened a few weeks ago anyway and the crime rate has gone down! At least the reports have anyway.

I've called the police 3 times.

First time was over a customer who refused to leave ( id asked them to provide ID) they did show but merely verified the guys age for me

Second time I had an abusive customer who refused to leave after being id'd , I went through 111 whi called back to check we were "safe" but no one ever showed up . Customer left after about and hour camped out in the toilet .

3rd time a friend and I were being followed and the man was screaming abuse at us which the call handler heard over the phone , honestly thought he was going to assult us, staff in the shop we tried to hide in were fab, call handler told us to just get a cab home...

They did show up when my parents house got burgled though

The only time I've had to report a genuine emergency, ie violence in progress that the call handler could hear, they arrived in about four minutes. They were brilliant.

It obviously depends on what you are reporting and what else is happening at the time.

A pp reminds me of being in Durban, SA in the mid 90s. A group of us were held up at gunpoint by a mugger.

When I eventually got back to the hotel, I suggested calling the police and the manager shrugged and said "what for? You're not hurt.".

if the incident is an emergency/grade 1 the police aim to get there within 15 minutes of the call being made, obviously this can’t always happen especially with stretched resources etc but they do have time targets they’re supposed to meet

When my son was threatened at knife point I called them as soon as he told me and they were there while I was still on the phone. When my husband was assaulted on a Saturday night they where there within a few minutes as was an ambulance.