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Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Who are you going to call?

The Register reports that South Wales police force has published a list of top time-wasting 999 calls during the past year in an attempt to convince people not to pick up the phone unless it's really necessary. Some of the examples they give are horrendous:

The highlight of 2007 came when one woman demanded officers come and cuff her boyfriend because he'd put her hamster out in the rain. Another caller explained: “My husband has the TV remote and won’t let me watch EastEnders.”

The list continues with the anxious citizen who admitted: “I don’t have £1 for a supermarket trolley”, and one flustered bookworm who offered: “A friend has my library card, can you come and arrest her?”

Our fave, though, is the bloke who enquired: “Can the police come round and take my mother-in-law away? She has been here for 18 days.”

The police are now to change the way they greet callers by announcing “South Wales Police, what is your emergency?”, which they hope will prompt the person on the other end of the line to ponder whether or not their situation really is a matter of life or death.
Comments:
It really makes you wonder what exactly goes on in some people's minds.

Can someone really think that not being able to watch EastEnders is an emergency?
 
These people should just call 101, but the Labour party are shutting that as well.
 
All the more reason to roll out 101 across Wales, after its successful pilot in Cardiff.

Since it will clearly save emergency staff time, and therefore money, why isn't the Assembly Government funding it?
 
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