Communications Division

The Force’s Communications Division is at the very heart of West Yorkshire Police masterminding all telephone contact between the public and police and managing the Force's response to incidents around the clock.

West Yorkshire Police receives more than 1.3 million telephone calls into its Customer Contact Centre each year, one every two minutes, and 5,200 internet contacts a month form the variety of contact options available on the Contact Us page.

#ClickB4UCall - An online tool to help you find the solution you need. Often the solution to issues can be found online, saving the need for you to call Police.

This high level of demand means that the Force has to prioritise calls into those we will respond to straight away (emergency incidents) and those which we plan an alternative response to.

Emergency incidents are those that pose a potential danger to life including: 

  • Use or immediate threat of violence and or serious injury to someone
  • There is a serious crime in progress and / or the offender is still at scene
  • A road accident involving serious injury or dangerous build-up of traffic
  • Any incident where the operator believes an emergency response is appropriate

Around 1 in 3 incidents receive an `immediate’ response and we arrive at 96% of these within 15 minutes.
Around half the incidents are classed as needing a `priority’ response and we arrive at 91% of these within one hour.
The remaining incidents are either dealt with via an appointment or over the telephone. An appointment can either be at a police station, your home address or an alternative venue, to suit you.

Despite constant efforts to remind the public that the 999 system should only be used for emergencies, the latest figures show that around two thirds of 999 calls to the Force do not require an immediate response.

For these non-emergency incidents or to report a crime, people are urged Dial 101. Deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired people can use textphone 18001 101. You should call 101 when it is less urgent than 999 but you need to report crime or disorder. For example:

  • Your car has been stolen
  • Your property has been damaged
  • You wish to report drug dealing
  • To report a minor traffic accident

Our highly trained call handlers speak to people who are often going through a difficult or worrying time and carefully balance the need to stay calm with getting as much information about the incident as possible.