New data reveals which UK police forces take the longest to answer emergency 999 calls.

The study, conducted by personal injury experts claims.co.uk, examined data from Police.UK on 999 call answering times between April and June 2025, ranking UK police forces based on their speed in responding to emergency calls. All the top ten forces answer emergency calls in under 6 seconds on average, demonstrating the high standard of emergency response across these areas.

The Metropolitan Police Service has the longest emergency call wait times at 16.84 seconds between April and June, which is 9.09 seconds slower than the UK’s average. May was the police force’s slowest month at 17.62 seconds before lowering slightly to 16.24 seconds in June.

Dorset Police ranks as the second slowest force, with an average 999 wait time of 10.90 seconds between April and June, 3.15 seconds slower than the national average. Dorset’s call response times ranged from 10.78 seconds in April to 11.02 seconds in June.

Police Scotland and Staffordshire Police follow in third and fourth place, with average emergency response times of 10.73 seconds and 10.50 seconds, respectively. The fifth slowest police force to answer 999 calls is Essex Police, with an average wait time of 10.49 seconds from April to June 2025.