MORE than a third of all emergency incidents in Barnsley were responded to within 15 minutes, new figures have revealed.
A report from South Yorkshire Police’s Public Accountability Board shows there was an increase in the number of incidents requiring an ‘immediate response’ in Barnsley between July and September.
The number of incidents increased from 21.6 per cent in quarter one to 23.7 per cent this quarter.
Priority response incident demand also increased to 20.3 per cent of all crimes.
The report said: “In respect of response times overall emergency response times remains around the 68 per cent attendance within the target time of 15 minutes for the last quarter.
“This is slightly lower than the previous quarter but as expected with the increase in demand.
“This is broadly in line with if not slightly better than the other districts across force.
“The average response time of overall attendance is just over 17 minutes which is again consistent with the other areas.”
More than 6,800 crimes were recorded by officers in Barnsley in the three-month period, with an average of 2,267 crimes being committed in each month.
It’s an increase on the previous quarter, with an additional 101 crimes each month.
Barnsley’s central ward saw the highest number of recorded crimes with around 15 per cent of the total crimes in the borough - though it has been said this is relative to the vast area the ward covers.
The number of burglaries has also remained a priority in Barnsley.
The report added: “Residential burglary remains a key district priority, with significant efforts to tackle offending and bring offenders to justice.
“Between July 2022 and September 2022 there were 292 residential burglaries - a reduction from the previous quarter.
“In the same period 36 suspects were arrested and within the same time parameters 12 suspects have been charged with burglary dwelling.”
Police bosses have labelled the last quarter as successful - and they’re continuing to work to manage demand in a number of areas.
The report added: “A key factor in this has been the teamwork, coordination, and a culture of unity across departments, enhanced by a strong ethos of partnership working and problem solving.
“The focus on managing demand, domestic abuse and all forms of child neglect, abuse and exploitation continues.
“Violent crime in Barnsley remains a priority and efforts to tackle neighbourhood crimes, such as burglary continue to yield reductions.
“Problem solving activity with our partners remains a central aspect of our strategy for service delivery, to sustainably reduce levels of crime and antisocial behaviour in the medium-to-long term and improve the quality of lives of residents and businesses in our communities.
“In closing, officers and staff across Barnsley continue to work exceptionally hard and do their very best to deliver an efficient, effective and legitimate service to local communities during the exceptionally challenging period during the summer surge and the resuming of normal day to day business.
“Our focus will be to ensure the wellbeing of our staff is being managed appropriately after several months of continuous high demands.
