Public urged to call responsibly

Police advise public to only dial 999 in an emergency

Residents are being asked to think carefully before dialling 999 or 101 following an influx of calls during the recent sunny spell.

Greater Manchester Police dealt with an average of 3,571 emergency and non-emergency calls a day during April, May and June. This increased by 19 per cent in July. On top of this, thousands of miscellaneous calls were dealt with.

Police are reminding residents to only ring 999 if there is a direct and immediate threat to life or property, or if a crime is in progress.

Recent calls to the 999 number include a lady who rung to report maggots in her bin, a man calling for ‘pregnancy pills’ and a man who rung to complain that somebody had stolen his car park space.

For general enquiries or to report less urgent crime or disorder, people should call 101. For example, if a car has been stolen, property has been damaged or to give police information about crime.

Calls about noisy neighbours, stray dogs, graffiti, abandoned vehicles, fly tipping or faulty traffic lights should be redirected to local councils.

Diane Grandidge, GMP’s business lead for call-handling said: “Every false or inappropriate 999 call wastes precious time that could be spent dealing with genuine emergencies. Apart from potentially putting somebody’s life at risk, misusing the 999 system is a criminal offence and we have the power to prosecute people for making hoax calls.

“Each day we receive dozens of calls about issues that the police are not responsible for such as noise nuisance, stray dogs and abandoned cars. Answering these calls leads to delays in people trying to get through to us for legitimate reasons so please think ahead and decide whether it may be an issue for the council before picking up the phone.”

For crime prevention advice or information on how to contact local neighbourhood policing teams, please visit www.gmp.police.uk.

101 is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and there is a single flat rate charge of 15p, no matter how long the duration of the call, what time of day it is or whether you are calling from a landline or mobile phone.