Average time it takes gardai to answer emergency calls is now under 20 seconds
Special Garda response centres are now taking under 20 seconds to answer calls from desperate members of the public, it has emerged.
Paul Cleary, the Garda Assistant Commissioner in charge of policing Dublin, says it now takes officers in four special regional control centres around the country an average of just 17 seconds to answer calls from members of the public.
And he revealed that since the creation of the four centres and the introduction of a new dispatch system called GardaSAFE, response times to the more than one million calls the force receive a year have improved by 20 per cent.
Commissioner Cleary said: 'Last year, our regional control centres received 1.2 million calls from the public, and 38 per cent of these calls were transferred from local Garda stations as part of our GardaSAFE call management system, which ensures that An Garda Siochana handles emergency and urgent calls consistently, allowing our frontline members to respond faster, with greater accuracy and with better support.'
GardaSAFE was introduced to the force in 2023 – to improve how officers respond to 999 and non-emergency calls from members of the public. All calls that require the dispatch of gardai, whether emergency or not, are handled by the new control centres, which operate 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. The Dublin centre is based close to the city's Heuston station - and handles around 40,000 calls a month.
That includes calls to Garda stations that are transferred to the centres if officers decide they require the presence of members of the force.
Commissioner Cleary said the system has seen a major improvement in response times.
He said: 'Since the launch of GardaSAFE, our call answer times have improved across our regional control centres by up to 20 per cent and the average time taken to answer calls in the Regional Control Centre is now 17 seconds.
'The time spent on these call averages is just over two minutes.
"We have specially trained GardaSAFE call takers and dispatchers who can quickly assess the situation and provide the right response.'
The senior officer urged people to call 999 or 112 in an emergency and added: 'This is the quickest route to getting the emergency policing service you need.'
But he also said most calls to local stations were not asking for officers to be sent to an incident - and Garda bosses still want people to continue to pick up the phone to them.
He said: 'I also want to reassure the public that our local Garda stations are also accessible, including by phone, and we want the public to continue to contact our local Garda station.
'This contact plays a vital role in how we serve our communities.
'Around 60 per cent of all calls to local Garda stations are not actually calls for service, requiring Garda attendance at an incident.
'They are people reaching out for information, advice, highlighting local concerns, and seeking reassurance and connection.
"And it's very important that we've retained this contact.
'I would encourage people to continue to engage with your local Garda station.
'If your call does require Garda attendance at an incident, it'll be forwarded immediately to the regional control centre for triage and dispatch.'
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