PHONE users were today reassured that ringing the police was no longer a nightmare of engaged tones and unanswered calls.

Over the past couple of years residents have often complained about being left in queues for several minutes while trying to contact police in the Eastern Division, covering Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley.

But Inspector Debbie Howard said the introduction four months ago of state-of-the-art technology, costing millions of pounds across Lancashire, had changed all that.

And she released figures to back up her claims showing that during December, 97.8 per cent of all 999 calls and 87.4 per cent of all other calls were answered with 10 seconds.

Insp Howard said: "There will still be occasions when people have to wait if there has been, for example, a road accident on the motorway when lots of people on their mobiles ring in about it. But generally speaking it is a lot better." A few years ago police in the Eastern Division set up the call centre at the old Northgate station in Blackburn town centre.

It meant that, for the first time, people calling did not go through to the actual police stations, but a central communications room.

The central communications room system had suffered teething problems elsewhere in the county.

And new call-handling technology was desperately needed, said Insp Howard. The lines would ring engaged if busy and, as a result, there was no way of knowing how many people were trying to get through.

This meant that operators temporarily off-line while they completed paperwork could not react and come back on line at busy times. The force has always hit its targets on 999 calls as they automatically get priority, but the non-emergency calls were becoming a problem. No figures are available as the details were not logged.

A year ago, the Northgate station was shut as the division moved to the new £7million Greenbank Station at Whitebirk.

But while extra room improved internal communications, the problem was not solved until the 'Symposium' system was installed four months ago.

It shows how many people are waiting so operators doing paperwork can go back on line to take the call.

And calls are automatically answered, which has cut the time when operators would, for example, spend a few seconds finishing a conversation before answering a call.

Insp Howard said: "Before, the calls came in and we were blind. It has been frustrating until the new system was installed.

"Now staff are monitored more and that makes them more efficient."