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There was a flurry of inappropriate calls to the police 999 service over the weekend that in no way could have been considered real emergencies. Gloucestershire police has urged people to keep the 999 lines clear for genuine callers after a significant rise in the number of non-urgent 999 calls received in the Force Control Room on Sunday.
Call handlers took 256 999 calls on May 4, and while most of the calls were to report genuine emergencies, numerous people rang to report inappropriate matters. In once instance, a member of the public called to report that they had found some spilt coffee in their kitchen and during another call someone reported that a man had been rude to staff at a car wash.
Chief Inspector Paul Cruise said: “All calls are important to us and we don’t want to discourage people from calling 999 when there is a genuine emergency, however we are still getting a large number of calls to our emergency line about non-urgent matters. Not only are they a waste of police time, they delay our response in getting to people who may urgently need our help and may potentially put lives at risk.
“We are urging people to only call 999 if they have a genuine emergency so we can get to those in desperate need as quickly and effectively as possible. “If it isn’t an emergency, please use our online reporting form or dial 101.
“Our call handlers may be dealing with genuine emergency calls and there may be a short wait while your call is answered, however the average time it took us to answer 101 calls yesterday (Sunday) was under one minute. The teams in our control room are the same team that answer both 999 and 101 calls, so it is important that calls are made to the right phone line.”
When to call 101
If you need to report something that’s already happened, and it isn’t an emergency, then you should call 101. In 2023, Gloucestershire police introduced a new call back service to the 101 phone line. If you are in a queue when calling 101, you will be given the option for a call back. This means that your call will end and you will be called back when phone lines are less busy.
When to call 999
A police 999 emergency means that:
- A crime is happening right now
- Someone is in immediate danger, or there is a risk of serious damage to property
- A suspect for a serious crime is nearby
- There is a traffic collision involving serious injury.
These are the only reasons that you should ever call 999 for a police response. Policing matters that are not in line with the above reasons are considered to be a non-emergency. If you need to report a police non-emergency, please make a report through Home | Gloucestershire Constabulary or call 101.
If you call 999 by mistake, don’t hang up – stay on the line to let police know that you didn’t mean to call and that you’re safe. You won’t be in trouble. Police prioritise silent 999 calls in the same way as any other 999 call, as it could be from someone who needs help but is unable to talk.
If you call by mistake and hang up, call handlers will spend valuable time trying to call you back to check if you’re okay. By staying on the line, you’ll be able to quickly tell police that we’re not needed, which means we can then continue to respond to other emergencies.
If you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service 18000. Or text police on 999 if you’ve pre-registered with the emergencySMS service.
If English is not your first language, we use a language line service so a translator can speak to the operator on your behalf. British Sign Language (BSL) users please use our video relay service where an interpreter will help you report the crime.
