- The Observer,
- Sunday July 8 2001
Police are backing the moves, which they say will take the pressure off over-stretched forces which deal with thousands of bogus and mistaken 999 calls every year. The moves come as new figures reveal that the number of 999 calls is increasing by up to 25 per cent a year.
Police say callers to the new number would be immediately diverted to their local police station, which would deal with the problem. Under the plans, calls to fire and ambulance services via 999 would be unaffected.
'People don't know how to contact the police except through the emergency number,' said Chris Fox, Chief Constable of Northamptonshire and vice-president of the Association of Chief Police Officers.
'If you see something suspicious you only have one option, which is to dial 999. But if we had one number which allowed you to call 888 you would be routed straight to your local police station.'
The Home Office is discussing the proposals with the police and telephone service providers, such as British Telecom and Vodafone, and is expected to come up with a firm commitment this year. 'We want it to be easy to contact us but not to result in a blue-light response,' Fox said. '[Any changes] can have an impact on the amount of visible policing [because] it is using resources that we're not able to put on the street.'
Fox said that there was most concern about calls to the 999 service from mobile phones. Many people dial the number by accident because they have the telephone switched on in their pockets. There is no way to block the call, as keypads cannot be locked against emergency calls.
In one month last year the Metropolitan Police received 250,000 emergency calls, swamping the control centre and meaning that frontline staff had to be redeployed. Last year the London force received 3.3 million calls, up 22 per cent on the year before. Scotland Yard is considering charging people £1 every time they call 999 by mistake.
'If people are charged, they might be more careful,' said Mike Todd, assistant commissioner. 'These calls are clogging the system and it is potentially dangerous.'
Home Office sources said they were looking at the plans closely and were aware of the police's concerns. 'We feel something has to be done to try and educate people about using the 999 service,' one official said. 'It is clear that some more radical solutions are needed.'
Last year the Metropolitan Police launched a campaign against people who rang 999 for the wrong reasons. One person called to enquire where he should take a lost umbrella.
Police are aware that the growing number of calls means that confidence in the service among the public is dropping and that response times are also falling.
A report by the Audit Commission last year revealed that satisfaction with police responses to 999 calls fell from 85 per cent to 82 per cent over the preceding 12 months and that 999 calls answered within local targets also fell from 89.1 per cent in 1998/1999 to 88.6 per cent in 1999/2000.
Fox will be present at the 'crime summit' called by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, on Thursday and the 888 proposals are likely to be one of the issues discussed.
Home Office officials said they did not want a war with the police over fighting crime despite Blunkett's pledge to make police reform his priority. Officials said they were more interested in 'constructive dialogue'.
'We all want the same thing,' a source close to Blunkett said. 'It's quite simple, less crime.'
