Police employees under multinational security services company G4S have been suspended after making fake calls to 999 to improve performance ratings.
The former employees, based in Lincolnshire made more than 600 “test calls” to improve performance ratings - "answering 92% of calls within 10 seconds or less," The Guardian reports.
G4S admits to The Register that it "has been cooperating with an investigation by Lincolnshire Police into allegations that members of staff in the force control room made repeated 999 'test calls' at quiet times to improve perceived overall call handling performance."
Formerly employed by the police force, staff were transferred to G4S four years ago when the outsourcing company signed a £200million contract to run police back office services, saving Lincolnshire police £6m a year.
349 fake test calls out of the 8,153 total received in December increased the office’s 89% target to 93%. According to The Guardian: "The figures show that without the extra test calls the control room would have missed its target of answering 92% of calls within 10 seconds in November and December."
John Shaw, Managing Director for G4S public services comments: “There is no place for anyone in our organisation who behaves in this way and their actions undermine the commitment and the good work of their colleagues.”
G4S says: "Data shows that at no point did these calls put members of the public or other front-line police officers and their staff at risk. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has also reviewed the evidence and has determined there are no grounds to pursue a criminal prosecution."
This incidence of breaching ethics to reach targets isn’t the first – read here about how one company punished their staff for failing to meet targets.
