Help Us To #Reducedemand
A broken television and calling the emergency line because of no phone credit are just some of the examples of the 999 calls North Wales Police have received over recent weeks.
The information is being made public as North Wales Police highlight their ongoing #ReduceDemand campaign to help lessen the amount of unnecessary and inappropriate calls made to the Joint Communications Centre in St Asaph ahead of one of their busiest times of year.
Year to date figures (1st January – 19th December) show that North Wales Police has received almost half a million calls including emergency and non-emergency calls.
Over the festive period between December 18th 2015 and 2nd of January 2016, North Wales Police received 3,714 ‘999’ calls and 12,315 ‘101’ calls.
Chief Inspector Martin Best from the Force Control Room is urging people to make sure that they use the 999-line appropriately, and only contact the non-emergency line if it is a police matter. He said: “Each unnecessary call to us reduces time available for calls which are for genuine policing matters. It is also a waste of operators’ time and clogs up the pressured 999 system.
“Traditionally Christmas and New Year are among the busiest times of year for the Force and we are simply asking people to use the 999 system wisely to help ensure a legitimate emergency is not missed over the festive period.
“Phoning 999 – which is an emergency line, for trivial matters such as to report a broken television is a complete waste of resources, and could possibly prevent a genuine life or death emergency call being put through.”
Other previous examples of inappropriate calls made to North Wales Police have included a request for a taxi, someone being unable to move a couch and a complaint about a cold take away meal.
“As well as the 101 non-emergency line we also offer live webchat for people to contact us online for non-urgent matters. This is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We recognise that people may not always want or need to call us on the phone so we also offer other options, including email, and online reporting forms.
He added: “Phoning 999 for routine matters will not result in an improved service to the caller, who will be requested to ring back on the non-emergency number. We do have powers to prosecute people for misusing the 999 system and if people are found to consistently making hoax calls they could face prosecution.”
It can be hard to judge what is or is not an emergency, but in general, you should call 999 if:
A life is in danger or someone is being physically threatened, or if you are witnessing a crime happening at the time, or think the offenders are still nearby
You witness or are involved in a serious road traffic collision where someone is badly injured, or other vehicles are causing an obstruction or a danger to other road users
Otherwise calls should be made to the non-emergency line, 101 (calls to 101 from landlines and mobiles cost 15p per call, no matter what time of day you call or how long you call lasts).
On Friday, December 23rd, officers and staff who use social media will be tweeting using the hashtag #NWP2day – to give a flavour of a ‘day in the life of North Wales Police with a hint of Christmas spirit.’
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