Emergency response grading and hate incidents

Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FOI/26/010095/Q

Version Date: 08/07/2026

The Performance & Analysis Department and the Contact Management & Communications Unit have provided the following information:

The Performance & Analysis Department completed searches within the incident database, Storm, and the crime database, Niche, for questions 2 to 5. The timeframe used for the searches is from April 2024 to March 2026 and included searches for the occurrence type of ‘ASB - Hate / Prejudice’.

For years 2024/25 and 2025/26 please provide the following:

1) List the structure of priority grading and target response times assigned to 999 calls

1. ‘GO NOW’ - EMERGENCY RESPONSE:

Grade 1: Emergency response – Immediate – Police Response within 20 minutes (Attendance within receipt of the call).  The immediate presence of a police officer will have a significant impact on the outcome of an incident. This is typically categorised as where there is, or is likely to be, a danger to life, a serious threat of violence, serious damage to property or serious injury. The response time to a call of this urgency is within 20 minutes.

1. NON-EMERGENCY - PRIORITY RESPONSE:

Grade 2: Priority response – Prompt – Police Response within 60 minutes (Attendance within receipt of the call). Where there is a degree of importance or urgency associated with the initial police action, but an emergency response is not required.

Grade 3: Priority vulnerable response – Police Response within 6 hours (Attendance within receipt of the call). Where based on the vulnerability needs of the victim, they are unable to care for themselves or others, or there is a risk of escalation, risk to the investigation / loss of evidence / public confidence requiring an officer to attend within 6 hours. Applies only to Domestic Abuse, Stalking (both DA and non-DA), and Medium Risk Missing Persons.

1. ‘GO LATER’ / NOT URGENT RESPONSE:

Grade 4: Standard response – Routine – Police Response within 48 hours (attendance within receipt of the call). Where police attendance is required, but an emergency / priority / priority vulnerable police response is not required and the matter is not suitable for a scheduled response. The response time to a grading of this nature is within 48 hours.

Video Response should be offered to domestic abuse victims in accordance with the THRIVE assessment and principals for pre-arranged police response, if the matter is deemed suitable for video response.

Grade 5: Scheduled response – Appointment – within 48 hours (unless victim unavailable) A better quality of police action can be provided if it is dealt with by a pre-arranged police response and the response is not critical in apprehending offenders, evidence or witnesses will not be lost.

Video Response should be offered to domestic abuse victims in accordance with the THRIVE (Threat Risk Harm Investigation Vulnerability and Evidence) assessment and principals for pre-arranged police response. Suitable for video response.

Grade 6: Resolution without deployment – Non-attendance. Recording purposes only.

2) List the total number of incidents allocated to each priority grade.

3) For each priority grade, list the total number of initial 999 calls which resulted in the allocation of a Non-Crime Hate Incident after investigation

4) For each priority grade, list the total number of initial 999 calls which resulted in the recording of a hate crime after investigation.

Please note that the Priority Grading for questions 4 and 5 have been given using the grading from Niche as this is the only method we can ascertain recorded crime or incidents accurately, therefore, it may not directly align with the previous categories which are taken from Storm, the Command and Control system.

5) For all Non-Crime Hate Incidents recorded, please provide a breakdown of the reporting method used to initiate the report (e.g., 999 call, 101 call, online report, or officer-initiated)."

Please note that the reporting method "Email to the police" includes a range of reporting methods including emails, online forms and webchats.