Police, Fire triple-0 wait times triple leaving terrified Territorians on hold

Territorians in an emergency have been left listening to a dial tone as triple-0 operator wait times blow out. SEE THE FIGURES.

TERRITORIANS in caught in life or death scenarios have been left listening to a dial tone as triple-0 operator wait times blow out.

Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services data has revealed wait times for emergency service operators has blown out, with delays for police and fire responses tripling over a year.

The latest data showed the department has consistently failed to meet a key response target for 10 months.

PFES aims to answer at least 90 per cent of triple-0 calls within the first 10 seconds, yet police and fire operators have not met this goal since June last year.

Police call responsiveness reached its lowest level in two years in April, with about 30 per cent of emergency callers left waiting longer than 10 seconds.

The latest data from April showed Territorians were waiting an average of 18 seconds for police to pick up, up from 5.1 seconds the same time last year.

That month a third of calls to fireys failed their target, with only 67.6 per cent of calls being picked up within 10 seconds.

Calls to fireys went from an average wait time of 5.5 seconds in April 2021, to 14.6 seconds 12 months later.

Over the same 12 months the number of calls to emergency services increased, with an additional 2400 calls to police, a 20 per cent jump from April 2021.

There were 173 more calls to for fire crews in April, up from 336 total calls the same month last year.

Police, Fire and Emergency Services Minister Kate Worden said the increase in calls was a major factor in the wait time blow out.

“Call wait times have risen to an increase in volume, with impacts from Covid-related staffing absences and additional questioning and messaging related to Covid pandemic,” Ms Worden said.

This is despite police and fire response times meeting their targets in periods where call volumes were even higher.

In December 2020, there were 13,574 calls to police, 95.6 per cent were answered within 10 seconds.

While in June 2021 there were 734 calls for fireys, 92 per cent answered in 10 seconds.

Ms Worden said the department had been actively recruiting police auxiliaries to boost the number of call-takers to ensure the demands were met.

A NT PFES spokeswoman said the increase in call-outs and staffing issues contributed to the department failing to meet their 10 second target.

“There are many factors that can attribute to this target including the substantial number of emergency calls received at various times and dates, number of rostered staff, number of staff affected by Covid-19 and unplanned personal leave,” she said.

NT PFES did not respond to questions asked by the NT News over how many triple-0 operators were currently employed, and if this number was sufficient to meet demands.

But the spokeswoman confirmed they were recruiting more operators.

“(We) are aware that the community do not usually call for police assistance and or attendance if they are not in immediate danger or requiring assistance,” she said.

“NT PFES will continually assess and monitor to ensure the community needs are met.”

Originally published as Police, Fire triple-0 wait times triple leaving terrified Territorians on hold