Formal recognition of improvements made to response times

How we respond to emergency calls is one of the most important things for a police force to get right. The public deserve to know that their calls will be taken seriously and that we’ll get to them as quickly as they can when they need us most.

A recent letter from HMICFRS (His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary) has confirmed that improvements we’ve made to response times in Warwickshire over the last few months has been recognised.

His Majesty’s Inspector Katherine Stone said she was “pleased that Warwickshire Police has made significant progress”, including improved oversight of incidents not attended within target times and updating victims in cases where there are delays.

Since June 2025, we’ve made and sustained multiple improvements to our ability to respond to priority and urgent call outs. In 2026, we answered 94% of 999 calls within ten seconds and we attended 90% of emergencies calls within the target 20 minutes – a huge increase from 2024 (63%).

We also dropped our average overall response time down from over 16 minutes to 13 minutes and under.

Acting Chief Constable David Gardner said “Our mission is to serve and protect our communities. We’re pleased that the improvements we’ve made to response times have been recognised and we’re committed to continuing to improve.

I’m grateful to all officers and colleagues who have been working tirelessly to provide the best service possible to the people of Warwickshire.”

Philip Seccombe, Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire said:

“I welcome the Inspectorate’s confirmation that this cause of concern has now been closed. This is a positive step forward and reflects the work of officers and staff, alongside regular scrutiny to support improvement.

“My role is to hold the Chief Constable to account for the service provided to the public, and I have kept a clear focus on response times and communication with victims as progress has been made.

“It is important that these improvements are sustained, so people across Warwickshire can be confident they will receive a timely response and be kept informed when they need help. I will continue to monitor performance closely to ensure this progress is maintained.”