Gloucestershire Police urge 999 calls only in emergencies
It's after the force received a number of inappropriate calls to their emergency line on Sunday
Police in Gloucestershire are urging people to consider if there's a genuine emergency before calling 999.
It's after the force received a number of inappropriate calls to their emergency line on Sunday.
In one instance, a member of the public called to report that they had found some spilt coffee in their kitchen.
Call handlers took 256 999 calls yesterday on Sunday (4 May), and while most of the calls were to report emergencies, they say that numerous people rang to report inappropriate matters.
'All calls are important to us'
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 other emergency 999 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 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 our 101 phone line.
If you are in a queue when calling 101, they will give you the option for a call back.
This means that your call will end and they will call you back when our phone lines are less busy.
Please consider using our call back feature if our 101 lines are 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
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 via their website or call 101.