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[hotel21]

There's a thing ongoing up here at the moment whereby an idea has been floated (by a local police federation rep no less) that 999 calls are to be charged at a premium (50p a pop?) rate rather than free as is at the mo.

In my opinion and experience we have shot our collective selves in the foot with the drive towards call centres and efficiency in that local folks no longer know the number for the local nick and can't be arsed with the 0845whatever (only 50 pee a minute.... ) one.

Plus, call centre peeps do not know local names for roads, junctions, people or whatever and valuable time is lost in trying to ascertain the truth if the matter.

As a result the 999 system gets overloaded with the assorted run out of bog paper/dog got a temperature/some shit on Facebook called me a knob/neighbours parked outside in my parking space shit or similar.

Bottom line - would you prefer free or charged 999 calls? 

...... and discuss..

[feeutfo]

Hang on, I thought the police where appealing for more calls, on the basis that people think its a waste of time. Therefor jobs drop off, and so do staff to handle said jobs.

And they want to charge for 999 calls? If they where getting too many hoax calls then possibly makes sense, but that's not been mooted in the medlia.

Daft IMO.

[Entwood]

I thought we had a national non-emergency number already ... 101 Costing 15p a call, no time limit

I've used it several, times and it seems to work well ... OK .. the centre for Wiltshire, is not on my doorstep .. but they have been helpful and, when required, the man in the right uniform has turned up for a chat ..

http://www.wiltshire.police.uk/index.php/contact-us/3246

[Nickbat]

I believe the cost of a 999 call should be decided by the government, not a local police federation rep.

The police have a very serious PR situation on their hands nationwide right now (in the light of plebgate and similar). Methinks clowns like this federation rep need to button it for a while. 

[Andy B]

.... in that local folks no longer know the number for the local nick and  .....

I know the number for my 'local' nick (the number is a general Manchester number & the supposedly transfer it to your local nick) but in the past when I've needed to ring, no bugger answers it ............ it's been faster driving down there & going to the front desk!

[the alarming man]

And since when did the police service (kent)employ the service of a customer service manager? ffs when i dail 999 cos my neighbours house is being broken into i want a plod either walking/biking/driving or even flying i am not fussed...what i dont want is a customer (when did i become a customer???) service manager ringing me up saying 'oh we cant come for another hour'...they soon got their sorry arses up here when i said don't wory 5 of us will sort it and hand them over to you when you ordane to turn up....i had 2 cars and a rowdy wagon with 2 minutes

now what was the customer service bod saying about not being able to turn up?

[plym ian]

so what would happen if you on payg phone run out of credit and can't ring police. are we supposed to stand watching old lady getting mugged?
or scratch around at a phone box for change

but I see where it's coming from if it creates a better service

[feeutfo]

IMO plod lost it long ago. Cop shop just round the corner, I got so fed up with plod related vehicles pulling out in front if me, as if it was their right of way, I complained.

The guy was aggressive, and said he'd recommend the council change the right of way (AT A ROUND ABOUT ) to suit police vehicles. Wtf?

I said if they had the courtesy to put blue lights on they would likely be given right of way for free. Otherwise they should follow the same damn rules as anyone else. ( harrumph! )

To add, just one example of numerous similar, undermined or inbred arrogance, who knows. But they aren't there to serve the public anymore, but then, we knew that.

[Nickbat]

Frankly, on second thoughts, I think the 999 service and, in fact all communications with our public services should be put out to the cheapest tender.

ME: Hello, Police?
OPERATOR: Ah, Good Morning, Sir. My name is "Brian" and I am here to help you. How are you today?
ME:There's an armed robbery in progress at the River Bank in the High Street.
OPERATOR:I see, Sir. At the end of this call, I would like to take part in a short customer survey. Is that something that you might want to take part in?
ME:I just want to report a robbery.
OPERATOR: OK, Sir. Not a problem, but if you chnage your mind, please let me know. Right, so how are you spelling Liver Bank?
ME: R_I_V_E_R
OPERATOR: R as in Rion?
ME: NO that would be an L. R as in Romeo.
OPERATOR: I have 3,563 High Streets. Can you tell me which one is this all happening on?
ME: In Westwick. There's only one High Street in Westwick.
OPERATOR: How are you spelling Westwick?
ME: Whisky, Echo, Sierra, Tango, Whisky, India, Charlie, Kilo.
OPERATOR: Is that two words or one?
ME: One!!
OPERATOR: Please excuse the delay. My terminal is very slow today.
ME: Oh, no, someone's pointing a sawn-off at me.
OPERATOR: A "Sornov"? Is that one of those cheap Russian iphones? Someone is taking your photo, yes?
ME: No, it's a f*cking gun.
OPERATOR: I must be telling you Sir, that we are not liking bad language. I will you be putting you through to my supervisor. If we get disconnected, please try again later.
Have a nice day.



Bang!
   

[geoffr70]

If you ever ring the police, some remote out of touch civvy sat in a call centre somewhere wants your entire life story before finding out what's happened. When there is a genuine emergency and dangerous circumstances they tell you they might be there in 3 hrs! Yes it happened.

The number of police dissappointments increase year on year, the latest one, a big one, being a few days ago.

Police aren't proactive anymore, they're only reactive, but it's too late then. So with that in mind I deal with things myself now as I haven't got a good word for them.

[ozzycat]

  this is a stupid idea what happens when joe public gose into a phone box to report an emergancy finds that he has no change so the person or persons who need the police dont get them because the caller has no money then they die whos fault will that be will it be the bloke who couldnt call the police dose he end up in court being sued by the persons who died family for negligance because he didnt make the call
    bloody stupid idea
i am sure the operators will prefer a few hoax calls as long as they get the call that saves sobodys life

[Kevin Wood]

Currently, if you phone 999 from a mobile phone it will use any available network to make the call. Even if your network has no service the call will get through via whatever is available. That clearly will cease if the mobile networks are expected to charge for the calls.

Recently, I was at the scene of an accident where one of the vehicles had come to rest in a position that seriously endangered oncoming vehicles. I tried to call the local Police just to park something with blue lights there as a warning. What a palava. Local station number redirects to some call centre with zero local knowledge. If "you'd like a crime number to give to your insurance company, press 1. If you'd like us to actually do something press 2..."

I doubt anything worthwhile came of it, as I had such difficulty even getting the location of the incident across. Had one person with local knowledge been available to take the call in the local nick, they could have got a car there within minutes, I'm sure. I was only half a mile from the Police station.

I'm sure call centres are a nice cheap way of manning phone lines for some businesses. The business of potentially saving lives needs a bit more nouse and, as said, local knowledge at the end of the line, IMHO.

[albitz]

And,ime if you try to call an emergency ambulamce its even worse.The operator establishes if the patient is breathing and conscious.If they are then an emergency call is refused and the ambulance takes three hours to arrive.Its a disgrace.
On the original point.The answer is easy.Outlaw and disband the Police Federation.Its an increasingly militant ,left wing trade Union (in all but name) which is determined to win the "right" for its members to go on strike,amongst other things.
Then the police could maybe start returning to actually serving the public who employ them.

[biggriffin]

Yes seem to have experienced most of the above at some time here in cambridgeshire,i find sarcasm works well along the lines of
 "the convayence the accused is using isnt taxed can you send the helicopter" or if you really want a pdq response  "i am just cleaning my shotgun" and that gets them going a bit other wise its wait a week for a wooden top to call round if they are in the area,and dont forget the risk assessment they do now for most calls

[Marks DTM Calib]

The trouble is, what do you call.

We had an incident recently where some 'youths' had construted a 1.5m high wall across the railway line (no mortar). The train crew did an emergency stop and hence avoided hitting it (thankfuly).

Had it been one of the 1500+ ton gypsum trains then things may have been different!

So a call to the Police (not 999).

First the transport Police - not interested as not part of the rail netwrok (it is as goods trains use the line)

Next Leicestershire Police - not interested as the main centre is in Nottinghamshire

Finaly Nottinghamshire Police - not interested as the incident occured in Leaicestershire.

You couldn't make it up and consequently we are having to go to the compliants commission to even get the incident registered!