Police Complaining About 999 Calls
27 September 2007Was listening to the radio this morning and my blood was boiling at police complaining about non emergency calls to 999. Posted the following comment on the Scotsman article on the story.
I’m sorry, but before police chiefs start complaining about this they should get their own house in order.
I live on the ground floor of a tennement flat in the South Side of Glasgow and last week my buzzer sounded during the day. I answered and a male voice said “Police can you let us into the close please”. Of course I buzzed them straight in.
I then heard the sound of running past my door and up the stairs followed by an almighty crash and the sound of smashing glass and shouting from upstairs. I looked outside and there was no sign of any police cars/vans, so naturally I was concerned.
I left my flat, went outside on my mobile and telephoned 999, informing them of what had happened and that I wanted to make sure it was the police who were smashing up the flat above me. The woman on the other end said “This is not an emergency call” (the tone was you are wasting our time) “Please hang up and contact your local police station”.
Well, I did as I was told and phoned directory enquiries for the number for my local station. As I was unsure whether this was an emergency I asked to be connected straight through at 42p per minute. What followed was 25 minutes waiting on hold!
After 25 minutes I noticed my upstairs neighbour walking into the close with some shopping and thought enough is enough, for all I know she could be going upstairs to an attacker. I hung up the phone and redialled 999, explaining that I had no way of knowing whether this was an emergency and could not get through to my local police station. This time they said they would look into it.
As it turns out, it was the police and was indeed a raid on a property above me. How on earth was I supposed to know that though? For all I knew someone above me was getting murdered. For the record I tried 2 different numbers for the local police (including their HQ in Pitt Street) and got no answer from either. The phone call also cost me £20.
Absolutely disgraceful.
on September 28th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
yep, maybe the police were tipped off about a stash of dutch shortcakes upstairs.
seriously though, shocking.