Staff based at the Essex Police Control room have tweeted about their frustration of having to take an emergency call from a male who wanted to complain
Just what the male thought the police would/could do is a complete mystery.
Most people tend to just sort themselves out with some food if they are hungry, rather than demanding that their spouse makes them their dinner and then contacting the police when he/she refuses to do so.
The Tweet shared by @EPControlRoom said:
“Today we have received a call from a member of the public on 999
Personally, I would love to listen to call in the hope of trying to make sense of just how someone can be so misguided as to believe that the emergency services are here for such trivia.
Unfortunately, this sort of time wasting is a common thing with hundreds of needless and unnecessary calls being made to the emergency services each day.
The whole time that the 999 call handler was speaking to this individual, he/she could have instead been dealing with a genuinely emergency being made by someone in genuine need of help.
Surely this male knew deep down, that his wife not making him dinner was not a police emergency!?
So was it self-entitlement that made him call the police? Did he really believe that police officers are here to make him dinner or force his wife to make him dinner?
Speaking as someone who spent several years on a police response team, then I would just ask people to think twice before calling 999.
Are you really experiencing or witnessing an genuine emergency?
Just to help anyone who is still perhaps unsure as to what is and what is not an emergency, the Government has even published the following handy advice:
Emergency calls
In an emergency please telephone 999.
If you are deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or have a speech impairment, a text phone is available on 18000.
You should use these numbers if:
- 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 injury or danger to other road users.
Non-emergency calls
For all other calls to the police in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland please telephone 101.
Calls cost 15p from mobiles and landlines, regardless of duration. They are free of charge from payphones.
If you are deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or have a speech impairment, a text phone is available on 18001 101.
You should use these non-emergency numbers to:
- Report a crime not currently in progress – for example a stolen car, burglary, or damaged property.
- Give information to the police about crime in your area.
- Speak to the police about a general enquiry.
- Contact a specific police officer or member of staff.
- See table below for complete list of forces and telephone numbers.
If you need to contact the police from elsewhere please check the website of the force you wish to contact.
Please see the complete list of force websites for links.
If you have a story, video or one-off blog that you would like to share with us, then you can contact our team of former emergency services & armed forces personnel either through our Facebook page, via Twitter ( @ES_News_ ) or you can contact us via email: contact@emergency-services.news
If you run or manage a ‘job’ social media account and you would like us to share one of your stories then send us a tweet or a message!
If you would like to write an article that you would like us to share (it can be about anything to do with the emergency services / NHS) whether you serve in the emergency services / NHS or whether you are a member of the public that has had a good experience with the emergency services, then feel free to contact our team; anonymously if you prefer.
We are proud to act as a voice for the Emergency Services & Health Service, with over 500,000 people visiting our website each month.
Before you go...
We need your help. As former emergency services & armed forces personnel, we pride ourselves on bringing you important, fast-moving and breaking news stories & videos which are free from the negative bias which is often directed at the emergency services & NHS by some sections of the mainstream media.
One of the reasons we started 'Emergency Services News' back in 2018 was because we became tired of reading badly informed stories about the emergency services & NHS which seemed only ever to highlight negative aspects of the job.
We want to be the unheard voice of the remarkable men and women who serve in the emergency services, NHS and armed forces. And with around 500k page views each month, we are getting there!
As income from ads, the mainstay source of income for most publishers, continues to decline; we need the help of you, our readers.
You can support emergency services news from as little as £1. It only takes a minute. Every contribution, however big or small, is vital for our future.
Please help us to continue to highlight the life-saving work of the emergency services, NHS and armed forces by becoming a supporter.
