Should be out catching rapists and murderers?

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Flyboy

Some people who call 999, for what seems frivolous reasons, are generally those who have a mental illness. Yes, many of them are certainly because they are just stupid, or think they are being funny, but for some it is an extension of a diminished mental state.

OK I'll bite.

And what exactly do you think the social services do for people who phone 999 repeatedly whether its because they genuinely think people are out to get them, they want attention or are just wired to the moon.

Your choices are:

• Give them the attention, care and help they need
• Ask the Police if they are likely to harm themselves or others in the next 10 minutes. If the answer is yes mutter furiously and make grudging arrangments to get them seen by a doctor
• Ask the Police if they are likely to harm themselves or others in the next 10 minutes. If the answer is no then ignore the problem
• Don't answer the phone until its after 4:00PM on Friday afternoon then turn on the answer machine and creep out the office. On Monday morning at 09:30AM ignore the messages left on the answer machine.

I'll give you a clue. The answer is far, far more likely to be in the bottom half of the list than the top half.

[Welshchris]

I rang 999 a few months back after someone was trying to gain access to a flat through a window by trying to force the window open with a screwdriver and a crowbar...

I was asked one of the most stupid questions ever which was...
"Does the person trying to gain access live there?"

It should have been obvious if the person lived there and i had known that i wouldnt be ringing to reported an attempted break in and entry, i really wanted to say "Would u like me to go and ask for u?"

[Waldo Pepper]

Tweets or Facebook, Bebo bollox. I would rather have them attempting to solve a crime instead of faffing with the Internet while on my pay roll.

Just do what you are paid for and leave the rest to your sad social life. FFS!

[iFrankie]

My god, i didn't know so many crimes where committed each day!

gmp24_2:
Call 143 Drunken man asleep in lobby of building, Manchester city centre. Man taken to police station to sleep it off (not arrested) #gmp24 [via Twitter]

How nice!

Originally Posted by Flyboy

Some people who call 999, for what seems frivolous reasons, are generally those who have a mental illness. Yes, many of them are certainly because they are just stupid, or think they are being funny, but for some it is an extension of a diminished mental state.

just about covered all your bases with that one haven't you ...

---------- Post added at 21:14 ---------- Previous post was at 21:10 ----------

Originally Posted by Waldo Pepper

Tweets or Facebook, Bebo bollox. I would rather have them attempting to solve a crime instead of faffing with the Internet while on my pay roll.

Just do what you are paid for and leave the rest to your sad social life. FFS!

i would hazzard a guess that it's not actually the police officers doing the tweeting but a maybe a civillian

[Flyboy]

Originally Posted by Derek

OK I'll bite.

And what exactly do you think the social services do for people who phone 999 repeatedly whether its because they genuinely think people are out to get them, they want attention or are just wired to the moon.

Your choices are:

• Give them the attention, care and help they need
• Ask the Police if they are likely to harm themselves or others in the next 10 minutes. If the answer is yes mutter furiously and make grudging arrangments to get them seen by a doctor
• Ask the Police if they are likely to harm themselves or others in the next 10 minutes. If the answer is no then ignore the problem
• Don't answer the phone until its after 4:00PM on Friday afternoon then turn on the answer machine and creep out the office. On Monday morning at 09:30AM ignore the messages left on the answer machine.

I'll give you a clue. The answer is far, far more likely to be in the bottom half of the list than the top half.

I don't doubt any of that happens in a great many cases. The point was, that when some people call 999 for those sorts of reasons, it should raise a matter of concern, rather than one of assuming deliberate criminal behaviour. I am sure that there many (in fact probably most) of the bogus, or frivolous, calls are made by the stupid, ignorant and downright twisted, but some sympathy should be afforded to those who do it, because the voices in their heads compel them to.

Personally, I find the ones who do it for the other reasons are nothing more than lowlife gits, who have no thoughts, or regard, for their fellow citizens and should be dealt with as severely as possible.

[beeman]

Originally Posted by Welshchris

I rang 999 a few months back after someone was trying to gain access to a flat through a window by trying to force the window open with a screwdriver and a crowbar...

I was asked one of the most stupid questions ever which was...
"Does the person trying to gain access live there?"

It should have been obvious if the person lived there and i had known that i wouldnt be ringing to reported an attempted break in and entry, i really wanted to say "Would u like me to go and ask for u?"

Its not that much of a stupid question, its possible that the person lives there, locked their keys in the house so got a ladder/crowbar from the garden shed to force his way back in.

Reading between the lines of the question it can bee broken down into...
"did you get a good look at the person?"
"if not goto your window and take a look"
"did you reconaise? him, if not we'll send someone round"

In fact when i breafly looked at the feed there was a report similar to yours in it (it was around 5-6pm)

it read something on the lines of "neighbor reported people forcing a window to gain entrance, officer dispatched, no offense committed" (ie looked out home owner trying to gain entry).

[Flyboy]

It sounds like a stupid question to me. If Chris had known the identity of the person attempting gain entry, why on Earth would he be calling the police. If the interpretation was as you have described, the call handler should have asked those questions. Last year I called 999 to report teenagers wandering around the street carrying rifles. I was asked what make of gun they were carrying. As if I would be able to see, from where I was, the name of the manufacturer on the weapon. I had told them that I was about fifty yards away, if I had been as close as two feet away, I would be having a very different conversation. It took six calls (from other people as well) to 999 to ask why no officer had been to call after three hours and we were told that it was not a priority. I then got a call, forty-eight hours later, to ask if they were still there.

Earlier this year I called 999 again regarding children, as young as ten, riding around the street on motor cycles. They were flying out of the alley ways into traffic, on a road with the national maximum sped limit. It appeared they were playing dare with the traffic. The call handler told me that I should not be calling 999, as it wasn't a life and death situation.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Flyboy

It sounds like a stupid question to me. If Chris had known the identity of the person attempting gain entry, why on Earth would he be calling the police.

You'd be surprised the amount of people who call to report a burglary in progress only to take a second look and see its actually the person who lives there or a close relative.

If the control room can confirm it is actually a house breaking it saves several cars screaming there with blue lights on. Despite what the Daily Mail tries to portray if there is any chance of catching a housebreaker 99.999999% of cops will try their hardest to get there.