POLICE and crime commissioner Nick Alston has slammed the force’s “absolutely inadequate”

non-emergency number after it emerged some callers were waiting up to two hours to speak to someone.

Mr Alston emphasised a lack of investment in staff and training was leading to the delays on the 101 number, which should be used to report non-urgent crime.

He blamed his predecessors on the Police Authority for failing to invest in the force and to iron out such issues.

Mr Alston is looking to raise the police’s share of the council tax in his continuing efforts to preserve frontline policing, which is threatened by the cuts.

Mr Alston said: “If you dial 101, by the time you manage to talk to anyone, it can be up to two hours – it absolutely can be two hours. The call centre facilities at Essex Police are absolutely inadequate and the reason for that is because we didn’t invest enough in it, we didn’t have staff with the right skills to do it.

“We are working on it now, training the staff and investing in the call centre, but it’s going to take some time to do it.”

He went on to say that far from providing value for money, the police authority’s boast that it presided over one of the cheapest police forces in the country actually let down officers and the public, a situation he believees has been made far worse by the massive cuts made in direct Government funding in recent years.

He added: “Whether it’s new technology or the development of our police officers, we have to do it, and it’s been woefully underinvested in.

“Essex Police have been telling you how much value for money they were giving you, but they weren’t telling you about that lack of investment.”

Mr Alston made the comments during a public meeting at Chase High School in Southend.