The time taken for Moray police to respond to the most serious emergency calls has increased by more than two minutes over the past year.
New figures show that response times increased from nine minutes 23 seconds last year to 11 minutes 29 seconds this year.
In addition, the statistics revealed that the time taken for resources to be deployed to an incident had increased from six minutes 59 seconds to eight minutes 39 seconds.
One local councillor said it was of “great concern” to him that the response times were increasing at all, let alone by more than two minutes.
Douglas Ross, Conservative member for Fochabers-Lhanbryde, said: “While I accept that Moray is a large geographical area and has unique challenges for our emergency services, these have not changed in the last year but the time people are waiting for the police has increased significantly.
“When people in Moray make a 999 call which is rated as a grade one emergency they have the right to expect the police to arrive on scene as quickly as possible.
“They will be disappointed that the time to respond has increased by so much and will be looking for answers on how these times can be reduced to ensure people get the assistance they require from the police as quickly as possible.
“I want to know if it’s because more officers have been moved into departments and taken off the street or if there are issues with the call handling process.”
Chief Superintendent Mark McLaren, divisional commander for Aberdeenshire and Moray, insisted that all emergency calls received were taken seriously and that those requiring immediate attendance were the force’s “absolute priority”.
“Average response times can be affected by a number of different factors, including bad weather conditions, distances travelled in order to get to an incident and making sure that in doing so officers and the public are kept safe at all times,” he said.
“Moray remains a safe place where crime has fallen and detection rates have increased.
“However, we are not complacent and will always look to improve our performance and indeed response times where there are opportunities to do so.”