North Wales Police chief constable Amanda Blakeman admits she “gets” the frustration people feel when they can’t get through quickly on the 101 non-emergency number, and police are moving towards a system for more people report crimes online.

A report reveals 101 calls were down in 2024/25 by 6.3 per cent from the previous year, with 222,465 calls.

999 calls had reduced by 5.8 per cent , with 111,524 calls. Police received 86,573 reports digitally, with 24,254 webchats and 62,319 emails.

In the same period, police attended 62,960 incidents, an increase of 2.4 per cent.

But the chief constable heard some residents were getting frustrated waiting for police to answer 101.

The chief constable said the number of 999 calls was continuing to rise, adding: “Conversely, though, our 101 volume of calls are decreasing. As we move people towards digital contact options, which are increasing, so we are seeing a shift from 101 ringing up to using that digital contact, which is what we want to see.

“That includes webchat, email, and online home reporting platforms, so we are encouraging people to do that because we get to those very quickly.

“I get the frustration that people feel if they are on their phone to 101.

“Our rates for answering, on the whole, are within that national average; however, what I would say is we are putting extra staff into our 101 demand. We are putting extra ability there to ensure we can get through that demand quickly, and I’ve got a training course at the moment that is going through in order to be able to provide some flexibility in terms of the ability for us to be able to answer a call from a member of the public.”