Leaked police emergency triple-0 data reveals hundreds of calls go unanswered or queued weekly

The police union has backed reports hundreds of triple-0 calls to police are going unanswered and placed on hold every week - putting lives in danger. Full story

Hundreds of emergency triple-0 calls to the Queensland Police Service are not being answered within the required 10 seconds every week, it can be revealed.

During the worst periods when resources are most stretched, less than half of callers get help within the time set by safety guidelines.

Some are life threatening incidents, where victims of youth criminals are being held-up in their Gold Coast homes, or women trying to escape potentially dangerous domestic violence situations, according to police sources.

The Bulletin has obtained leaked data, covering the period from December 2023 through to this month, which highlight the stress on the State’s emergency system.

Hundreds of calls are ringing-out and at times more than 20 are left waiting in a queue with no police staff to answer them, it can be revealed from months of obtaining confidential data used by communications centres and talking to concerned whistleblowers.

“I will answer the phone – you can hear the distress in their voice,” a police triple-zero whistleblower said.

“They’re needing police there ASAP and they’ve been waiting for five minutes. It’s putting lives at risk.“

The Queensland Police Service (QPS), with a benchmark of answering 90 per cent of all triple-0 calls within 10 seconds or less, has responded by highlighting staffing increases in the past two years, and assures the public: “Calls for service are still being allocated and resourced appropriately, with business continuity plans in place to ensure emergency call staffing is forecast and meets national standards.”

But on one evening last week, nearly 52 per cent of triple-0 calls were answered within that time frame and up to 18 people were on hold waiting to get through.

On the weekend, a distraught person rang triple-0, who was “screaming for help”, and was placed in the queue for police where they spent more than five minutes on hold.

When the call was eventually answered it was ascertained there was an imminent threat to the person’s life.

Leaked screenshots show the number of calls to triple-zero that are listed as rung out, no answer (RONA) each day.

A whistleblower said: “These situations make staffers feel sick. They are being bullied and pressured by our senior police managers to speed up calls and get through the backlog.

“How does a person hang-up on a young girl who is calling you because she’s scared and because a drug affected person is threatening her while she is on the train.”

In December 2021, the Queensland Police Union conducted an audit into the triple-0 network and in confidential findings, obtained by the Bulletin, found “extensive issues” and “worrying” conditions.

“Staff indicated they’re at breaking-point and this is understandable,” the report states.

“With approximately 120 vacancies across the network resulting in huge overtime hours. The QPS is delaying answering triple-0 calls for minutes at a time.”

Emails and text messages sent to Queensland Police Service triple-0 staff multiple times per week.

The union detailed how officials attended a police communications centre for an inspection, when a Telstra operator had rung through to staff to raise concerns about 12 triple-0 callers that were waiting on hold in a queue.

“This type of congestion may result in a delayed response. Worst-case outcome is that callers requiring an emergency response are unable to be answered. Or they abandon the call in their time of need” the report warns.

A Telstra source, aware of the triage of triple-0 calls to police, claims the backlog caused by the QPS is impacting on the national network.

“When someone rings, we have to remain on the line to connect them to police and hand over the call,” the source said.

“With them (QPS) we’re held up for minutes and can’t triage other emergency calls.“

In a statement a Queensland Police Service (QPS) spokesman said 177 new operational staff had been recruited since the beginning of 2023 which it claims had resulted in shorter call handling times. It also established 20 new “team leader” positions in 2023 across its communication centres.

“Business processes are in place for Police Communications Centre staff to answer and manage the triple-0 service with agility,” the QPS spokesman said.

“When queuing occurs due to a surge in telephone calls from unplanned increased demand, additional Police Communications Centre staff are tasked to triple-0.

“Calls for service are still being allocated and resourced appropriately, with business continuity plans in place to ensure emergency call staffing is forecast and meets national standards.”

The QPS spokesman said the volume of calls to triple-0 had increased by more than 12 per cent since 2021.

TRIPLE ZERO RAMPING FALLOUT

The Queensland Police Union (QPU) says whistleblower claims of hundreds of missed triple-0 calls every week are “absolutely accurate” and the issue has been happening for years.

QPU president Shane Prior said the union warned the Queensland Police Service of the strain on its Triple-0 network almost three years ago - before hundreds of calls began ringing-out or being placed on hold every week .

“It is our biggest fear that with the congestion we are currently experiencing that someone’s phone call when they are in need is not answered,” Mr Prior said.

“If a member of the community needs to call Triple-0, they’re calling for a reason.

“The resources aren’t enough to deal with the problems that are coming in.”

Queensland Police Union President Shane Prior said whistleblower claims "absolutely accurate" of hundreds of missed calls every week and queues.

Mr Prior said $72 million had been spent on overtime to keep the service afloat - with police communications centres responsible for a large portion of that cost.

He said commitments by the LNP and ALP to deliver 1600 additional police was welcomed but still fell short of the boost to resources that is need.

“The demand on our police on the frontline is extreme,” Mr Prior said.

“We need to start thinking beyond political terms. We need to start thinking about 10-20 years time because if we do not, we will not have a workforce.

“We need to adequately resource our police on the frontline. We need to look seriously at recruiting more police.”

Despite the union backing the claims of calls going unanswered, Police Minister Mark Ryan said emergency calls were being “appropriately” resourced by the QPS.

“With business continuity plans in place to ensure emergency call staffing meets national standards,” Minister Ryan said.

“When queuing occurs due to a surge in telephone calls from unplanned increased demand, additional Police Communications Centre staff are tasked to Triple Zero.”

LNP police spokesman Dan Purdie said Queenslanders should have confidence that when they ring Triple-0 police will be available to take their call.

“Our dedicated police officers are just as frustrated with the number of calls that go unanswered,” Mr Purdie said.

“This is yet another symptom of Labor’s crime crisis in Queensland.”

FULL BULLETIN-QUEENSLAND POLICE Q&A

GOLD COAST BULLETIN: What is being done to urgently address the workload and staff shortages affecting the QPS Triple Zero Network?

QUEENSLAND POLICE SERVICE (QPS): Since 2022, the Communications Group have been undertaking ongoing recruitment and training to maintain and build workforce within the networked Police Communications Centres. In 2023, 82 new operational staff were recruited to the group and in 2024 (to date, as at September) 95 additional operational staff were recruited and commenced training. In 2023, 20 new Team Leader positions were established across Police Communications Centres. Since 2022 the call handling time of the Group has decreased, resulting in the increased availability of communications operators to answer Triple Zero calls.

GCB: There have been a number of cases where the inability of the QPS to answer Triple Zero calls has impacted on community safety. What is being done to stop this from occurring?

QPS: Business processes are in place for Police Communications Centre staff to answer and manage the Triple Zero service with agility to quickly receive information assess, prioritise and dispatch emergencies to frontline line officers. When queuing occurs due to a surge in telephone calls from unplanned increased demand, additional Police Communications Centre staff are tasked to Triple Zero to maximise real-time availability. Non-urgent calls which are answered via Triple Zero are identified and can be transferred to Policelink. An established process is in place to conduct call backs for any unanswered Triple Zero calls.

GCB: In 2021 the Queensland Police Union conducted an audit into the QPS Triple Zero network and wrote to senior management with concern about its findings. It stated that calls were ramping and the QPS was unable to deal with the volume of work. There were over 120 vacancies across the network and one Police Communications Centre alone was running on over 700 overtime hours per week. The QPU said the system had “extensive issues” and warned that the QPS was at risk of missing urgent calls for service. What plans were put in place in 2021 to address the issues? And, why has the problem got worse?

QPS; The QPS remains committed to delivering the Triple Zero communications services to meet the increasing demand. From 2021 onwards, improvements in Triple Zero Grade of Service occurred. Over the same five-year period, calls to Queensland Police on Triple Zero increased by almost 13 per cent. The improved service levels are being delivered through service improvement initiatives which include:

- implementing demand forecasting and aligning call-taking resources to the forecast Triple Zero demand;

- re-designation of civilian Communications Operator positions from AO3 to AO4 (paygrade), making the role more attractive to qualified candidates in an employment market which has become increasingly competitive;

- increased recruitment to fill established positions and increase operational strength. This has reduced operational vacancy rates. As at September 2024, there are a total of 30 current vacant positions in the Communications Group. 26 of which are operational positions (nine Communications Operator positions and 17 police positions). The Communications Group is working to fill these vacancies through ongoing recruiting and the training program which has been operating at maximum capacity.

GCB: How can the community have confidence that when they need urgent police assistance they won’t be stuck in a queue?

QPS: Calls for service are still being allocated and resourced appropriately, with business continuity plans in place to ensure emergency call staffing is forecast and meets national standards. Every effort is being made to reduce impact for members of the community and our staff. Due to the nature of emergency calls, there are some circumstances where calls are queued due to unplanned occurrence of singular and multiple events. This can result in numerous incoming Triple Zero calls for the same incident. The community can assist QPS by only calling Triple Zero in an emergency. Use Policelink for non-emergency reporting by calling 131-444 or accessing online Policelink reporting options

Originally published as Leaked police emergency triple-0 data reveals hundreds of calls go unanswered or queued weekly