Applicants for police officer posts crash force phone lines

NORTH Yorkshire Police was swamped with 350,000 calls about 60 police officer posts this week and even the force's chief constable stepped in to help man the phones.

The force's phone lines crashed when they first opened on Monday (8 February), after it received 20,000 calls about the jobs. A new phone number was then issued and call handlers dealt with 350,000 callers between Tuesday and today (12 February). Lines close at 8pm tonight.

Grahame Maxwell, the force's chief constable; Adam Briggs, deputy chief constable; and Sue Cross, an assistant chief constable, all took to the phones to help out during busy periods.

Mr Briggs said: 'We have had an incredible response to the recruitment campaign and it was nice to be able get involved and lend a hand.'

He added that the force's response to emergency and routine operational calls had not been affected.