Police will be forced to arrive at crime scenes within 15 minutes in cities and 20 minutes in the countryside under the Government’s policing shake-up.
The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the targets would correct a situation in which “too often there seem to be no consequences” for crimes.
Under reforms for England and Wales being unveiled today in the Policing White Paper, response officers will be expected to reach the scene of the most serious incidents within 15 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in the countryside, with forces expected to answer 999 phone calls within 10 seconds.
Serious incidents would include those where there is a danger to life, the use or immediate threat of violence or where a crime is in progress or an offender has just been disturbed at the scene.
At the moment, data on response times is collected differently across forces, and police are not held accountable if targets are not met.
The Home Office said the new targets would make sure there is a uniform level of police response to crimes across the country.
If forces fail to deliver, the department has promised to send experts from the best performing forces to raise their performance.
At the same time, the Government is pledging to restore visible neighbourhood policing by having a named, contactable officer for every council ward in England and Wales.
Under the plans, residents will be able to raise individual crimes and anti-social behaviour with these officers with a guaranteed response to neighbourhood queries within 72 hours.
While there has been a dramatic fall in violent crimes over the past 20 years as well as offences such as robbery, the Home Office has said there is an “epidemic” of “everyday offences” such as shoplifting, drug dealing, phone theft and anti-social behaviour.
Mahmood said: “Everyday crimes are on the rise across the country and too often there seem to be no consequences.
“People are reporting crimes and then waiting hours or even days for a response. By the time the police arrive, the perpetrators and witnesses are long gone.
“I will restore neighbourhood policing and scale up patrols in communities to catch criminals and cut crime.”
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John Hayward-Cripps, the chief executive of Neighbourhood Watch, said: “It’s a very basic expectation that police will respond when you report a crime, and quickly when it is serious. When that doesn’t happen, it’s not just frustrating, it is very stressful and it damages trust. The data shows that there is real variation in how well different forces respond to incidents.”
He added: “The Government introducing national standards and, crucially, the resource required to meet them is a welcome step forward.”
Other reforms in the White Paper include creating a new “British FBI” to take responsibility for counter-terror, fraud and criminal gang investigations at a national level and slashing the number of police forces in England and Wales.
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