When to dial 999, or 0845 456 4564 or 0800 555 111

You may have seen the plea in the national press from Stephen Otter, the Chief Constable of Devon & Cornwall for the public not to call out police 'for trivial matters' as part of an effort to save his rural force money, as all budgets have been cut by the Coalition Government; every police force throughout the land has to make savings and deploy remaining resources in the most cost effective manner.

At a recent neighbourhood police panel meeting, the whole question of who and when to telephone came up in discussion. The rule of thumb is that Cambridgeshire Police really do want you to call 999. IF the incident is in progress and you consider there may be a danger to a person or persons or property is in the process of being criminally damaged.

By calling out officers and cars, the objective is to stop or assist in halting the incident in its tracks, restore calm and to assist, arrest or caution those involved. Or it might be a road traffic collision, with possible danger to life or injuries, then of course 999 would be the obvious and only option. 

If the event/incident  has happened and there is no current danger, the suspects may have decamped and there is clearly little need for an urgent response by police cars and officers, but the incident needs reporting for a non urgent follow up, then the number to use is 0845 456 4564.

The other alternative, especially if you don't want to deal directly with police, is to use the Crimestoppers National freephone number 0800 555 111, Crimestoppers maintain a highly responsive call centre which operates around the clock. They will take all grades of calls and will immediately connect with police control rooms maintaining your annonymous status and Crimestoppers will never trace your call, or ask for your identity.

So as the Chief Constable of Devon & Cornwall wrestles with his balance sheet, the resourcing position in Cambridgeshire whilst still tight is somewhat different. It is still up to us all to ensure that police are available on the 'front line' and some simple commonsense solutions will ensure that all calls are properly and efficiently routed and the most appropriate resources are immediately deployed.


CALL CRIMESTOPPERS 0800 555 111 They will never ask for your name, trace your call, you won't need to go to Court. Registered Independent Charity. NOT connected to Police. (C) Park Farm Neighbourhood Watch, Peterborough,UK Tel: 01733 345581 Skype:Julian.Bray.UK >> Broadcast ISDN 01733 555319 ISDN Codecs G722&APT Media Enquiries: Julian Bray 01733 345581 http://tinyurl.com/STANGROUNDPFNW