400,000 calls to police's 101 number went UNANSWERED

It means more than a quarter of the 1.5 million ‘non-emergency’ inquiries saw either the caller hang up or be disconnected as the force grapples with a staffing crisis and record demand.

In the last six months just 27 per cent of calls to 101, designed to deal with crimes such as car theft, criminal damage, and drug dealing, were answered within 30 seconds.

The national target is 90 per cent. Similarly, more than 14,000 calls to 999 – around two per cent – were also not picked up because handlers took too long.

And 81 per cent of emergency calls were answered within 10 seconds – still significantly short of the 90 per cent target.

A report by Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale said: “The levels of demand the force is currently facing are far higher than anticipated for 2016-17 which has manifested itself in very high levels of 999 calls, 101 calls, incident logs and recording of volume crime.

“The volume of both calls for the service and volume of logs in June both saw record levels, with close to 64,000 emergency calls received and more than 15,000 logs created that required an immediate response.”

The force is also failing to meet its response targets for arriving at crime scenes quickly.

It comes just weeks after it was revealed the West Midlands is suffering a crimewave, with crime up eight per cent and double digit increase for burglary, robberies, violence, and possession of weapons.

The force is currently trying to merge its 999 and 101 call handling teams as part of modernisation plans to deal with budget cuts.

But the department has been left short-staffed and the force has been trying to recruit new workers who then have to undergo weeks of training. In February, the force contact centre had 146 vacancies out of 913 posts. That number is now down to 51.

PCC: West Midlands Police must improve 101 call performance

The region's Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said the fact nearly 400,000 calls to the number were not answered last year is 'not acceptable'.

Mr Jamieson said he recognised the force was 'under pressure' from an 'unprecedented' level of calls – but their performance had to improve.

The force says 90 per cent of call handlers are now trained to deal with 999 and 101 – the remaining 10 per cent are either on maternity leave or on long-term sick.

Officer and staff attendance is also below the 97 per cent target – currently at 89 per cent for officers and 92 per cent for civilian staff.

Half of those off sick are on long-term sick leave, with the majority suffering from stress or anxiety which the force links with the changes to the department.

Mr Jamieson said: "West Midlands Police has faced unprecedented calls for service from the public, outstripping that of New Year's Eve, which is traditionally the busiest time of the year.

"Staff are under pressure from the huge levels of demand.

"Eighty-four per cent of 999 emergency calls are answered within 10 seconds. I want that to improve further and reach the expected levels.

"The level of performance in answering 101 calls within 30 seconds is not good enough and is of real concern.

"It is an important service and it needs to improve.

"Investment has been placed into this area and by the time that the force reports back to my board in October I expect to see a huge improvement.

"The current levels of performance are not acceptable and need to improve rapidly."

Officers from specialist departments, including CID, neighbourhood teams, and the public protection unit, have been called into help with day-to-day response calls.

A report gives six main reasons for the shocking performance.

They include: rising numbers of vehicle crime, missing persons and anti-social behaviour cases that take longer to deal with, visitors to custody blocks and delivery drivers at unstaffed premises using 101 rather than direct numbers, officers not giving witnesses or victims direct numbers, and more bureaucratic procedures such as Sarah's Law and Clare's Law - where police can disclose if a new partner has a history of domestic or child sex abuse - taking more than two hours to deal with.

The number of 999 calls has increased by 20 per cent, the force said.

It hopes the call handlers will be fully staffed by November but stressed 70 per cent of 101 calls were resolved at the first time of asking.

Latest performance figures show that just 69 per cent of calls that require an immediate response see police arrive at the scene within 15 minutes of the call – well short of the 90 per cent target.

Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale's report says cuts to police numbers mean they do not have enough officers to cope with the increasing demand.

And Chief Constable Dave Thompson suggested some of the targets may not be realistic.

Mr Jamieson added: "The rise in demand and the recent terror attacks have stretched the service and has impacted upon the force’s ability to respond to crime.

"I am driving efficiencies to support the recruitment of 800 officers. Whilst welcome they will only stabilise not increase the number of officers West Midlands Police has."