Did you see the 999 item on the News??

[KayleeUK]

They were showing some of the calls that are made to the emergency 999 number.

Some of them were....my wife has only left me two sandwiches for dinner...........there is no buses running.......why am I sat in a traffic jam....

OMG!!!! What are these people thinking!!

There is a new number now for low level crime 101, this isn't a free number but costs 10p and will hopefully ease these silly calls to 999.

 

[natalielongstaff]

i saw it .... 101 seems a good idea, hopefully it will work and stop these idiots wasting valuable time !

 

[florida sun]

Unbelievable is'nt it Dont these people realise that they are taking up peoples time that need to be dealing with real emergencies.

Lets hope this new number helps somewhat

 

[pokemon_master]

Weird.... Didn't those people's mothers tell them how to use 999 properly?!

The tabloids say that the definition of "Low level" can mean anything and even seamingly big crime. For example, Drug dealing is supposed to be classified as Low level apparantly..

Then again, it could be tabloids spinning lies again

 

[Minniespal]

It defies logic that these people can actually believe that these calls are emergency calls. It would make more sense if they are expecting to get lots of non-emergency calls to the other number that they make it a premium rate call. That might deter them, then again it may make they start calling 999 again

 

[Queenie]

I suppose drug dealing is a "low level" crime in some ways. A fire or someone having a heart attack needs IMMEDIATE attention. Generally drug dealing is a long term problem, not something that needs a police car to come racing across town to deal with it. Of course it needs dealing with but in a different way, I suppose that's what they're getting at.

 

[UKDEB]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

 

[Laurafoster]

It really is worrying about what some people class as an emergency, it would be really awful if someone was in need of the emergency services and they were tied up with one of those other silly calls.

 

[Cyrano]

There is a new number now for low level crime 101, this isn't a free number but costs 10p and will hopefully ease these silly calls to 999.

I wish this too, but suspect that the emergency services will still have to deal with many who miss use the service

 

[Queenie]

Well if someone considers buses, sandwiches and traffic jams to be emergencies now, I can't imagine them considering them to be low level emergencies in the future, surely they are just as urgent!!!

 

[Hilary]

I think the introduction of a 101 number is an excellent idea - but I wish they hadn't decided to make it a non-free call.

If there's a charge attached (10p), surely that's going to make it more likely that people wil use 999 instead of paying. If there are people out there daft enough to believe that their sandwich shortage is an emergency, then there are surely people daft enough to think they're entitled to save 10p by using the 999 freephone number!

Whilst agreeing that those examples were just ludicrous and not even topics for the police, let alone an emergency call, I do think there needs to be an easily reachable service for non-emergency contact. I don't think we're unusual in the this area in having part-time local police stations It takes half an hour to trawl through the phone book to find the number for the next nearest station that might be manned and, by the time you get through to someone to speak to, the matter hardly seems worth mentioning!

So, thumbs up to 101 - I really hope it's successful.

 

[wideeyes]

The police already have non emergency numbers however they are hard to remember and they are different for different area which could be why the 999 number gets abused a lot. I think the 101 number is just to make it easier to remember.

In the paper they was an article of what was considered a reason to dial 999 and it isaid if the crime is in progress or if some one is in danger, otherwise you call the crime incident line.

 

[Miffy2003]

I think this is absolutely outrageous! Don't these silly people realize their thoughtless actions could cost lives???

Hilary, I agree they should have made 101 free too.

 

[LindseyUK]

Just had to add to this- the news report that I saw played an example of one of these time-wasting 999 calls which was a woman who had a pigeon flapping around in her fireplace as it had fallen down her chimney!
Now pigeons are scary! But not quite scary enough to dial 999......

 

[daipp]

I was under the impression that 101 was only being trialled in certain areas of the uk for now so not everyone should rely on it just yet.

David