Devon and Cornwall Police are reminding the public to reserve 999 calls for genuine emergencies during the Christmas period. The force handles an average of 1,000 emergency calls and 2,000 101 calls each day over the festive season, which they say is one of the busiest times of the year.
Police dispatchers have received inappropriate calls, including complaints about a missing takeaway and a person stuck in handcuffs. Ch Insp Greg Hine said: “We have had incidents where people ring 999 because their pizza hasn’t turned up or there’s a cat stuck on a roundabout, which is not an appropriate use of 999.”
He added: “It’s appropriate to ring 999 for example if someone’s life is at risk of serious injury, if there is a crime in progress or if there is a serious collision on the road.”
Force incident manager Shaun Wallis noted that accidental calls also consume significant police resources. “We don’t know you have phoned in error so we allocate a resource to phone you back until we are satisfied there is no genuine emergency.
“The public can really help by staying on the line, saying they’ve made a mistake and confirming who they are,” he added.
Police identified the early hours of New Year’s Day as one of the peak periods for incidents. Contact officer Cheryl Nutbean, who works in the police control centre in Plymouth, said: “There are quite a lot of fights which happen at this time of year, either domestics or people out with friends and things have just got out of hand.”
The force recommends using the 101 call back service for non-emergencies, where a call handler will return the call within an average of 14 minutes.
