Crimes are going unreported because it takes too long to answer 101 calls to the police who are also taking too long to respond to incidents logged online.

That was the message from a Leamington councillor who added that the under-reporting gave a lopsided view of how safe an area was when it came to certain decisions such as whether street lights should be left on overnight.

Cllr Bill Gifford made his comments during the latest meeting of Warwickshire's police and crime panel.

Addressing police and crime commissioner Phillip Seccombe, he said: "The public feel that the 999 calls are dealt with skill but, rightly or wrongly, the waiting time for 101 calls is often far too long.

"I believe that the more the public's concerns can be dealt with by the website the more pressure it takes off 101, but residents tell me that it can take up to a week to get a crime number.

"It gives the unfortunate and incorrect impression that the police are not really interested in hearing from the public. There is then a feeling that it is not worth reporting crimes, that results in under-reporting of crime. There is also a concern that not all crimes reported are logged by the system.

"This can result in a street that feels it is experiencing a lot of crime and would like the lights to be put back on but the police don't feel there is a valid figure for them to do so which is an issue I have in a few streets."

Other councillors added that they had faced long delays, sometimes more than ten minutes, before 101 calls were answered and often hung up in frustration.

Mr Seccombe said the increase in the number of emergency 999 calls had an impact on the waiting times with Warwickshire Police often taking calls from other forces when they were under pressure.

He added: "The target for acknowledging single online home reports [via the internet] is within 48 hours so I am concerned that you have examples of a week or more and I will be raising the matter with the chief constable.

"Going on to 101 calls, the average wait time from the latest figures was about eight minutes which is too long but it all depends on the demand. What I would say is that our times are better than most other forces.

"You can't just put extra people into the control room, they have to go through quite an important process to decide whether the call needs an immediate response or where it should be directed. It is quite a comprehensive training and we cannot just bolster the team with people coming in overnight to help out." 

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