More than 6,500 emergency calls taken by South Wales Police over festive period

We received more than 6,500 total 999 calls over the Christmas and New Year period.

In the 10 days from Christmas Eve to Bank Holiday Monday, January 2, a total of 6,574 calls were made to our 999 service – an average of 27 every hour.

During the same period, a total of 6,398 non-emergency 101 calls were also made.

The Christmas and New Year period is always a time of high demand for our control room, or Public Service Centre (PSC).

Although it may be frustrating if you have to wait for your call to be answered, we are working hard to get to you as soon as possible.

As well as calls, our teams also responded to hundreds of online forms, emails, and social media direct messages.

At the same time, the wide variety of other teams who work in our PSC – including despatchers, specialist missing people officers, intelligence officers, incident resolution officers, force incident managers, and supervisors – have all been supporting people in need and prioritising a wide variety of incidents.

Superintendent Dean Thomas said:

“The festive period is traditionally the busiest time of the year. I am really grateful to colleagues who continue to show such devotion and dedication, even while their families and friends might be enjoying time off over Christmas.
“Our teams work tirelessly to get to your contacts, but clearly busier periods mean our resources are stretched more than usual.
“Of course, we will always need to prioritise the most urgent incidents. You can also help us to help you, by only dialling 999 when it’s an emergency. If it’s not an emergency, you may also prefer to contact us online – through live chat, our website, social media, or email. This helps further reduce demand on the phone lines and ensure those who do prefer to call can get through.
“Please also consider whether your query is one that we can deal with. Your local authority are best placed to help with many issues, such as fly tipping or noise nuisance.”

We are currently recruiting call handlers in our PSC. For more information and to apply, visit the careers section of our website.

There are a variety of ways you can contact us when it’s not an emergency. These include via online forms on our website; via live chat on our website (available 9am-4pm, Monday to Friday); by emailing swp101@south-wales.police.uk; by sending a private message on an official South Wales Police Facebook or Twitter account; or via 101.

In an emergency, always dial 999.