Police non-urgent 101

[Tim Lund]

Enough said, I think.

[mosy]

Here's a link: http://www.police.uk/101

[Rachael]

Enough said, I think.

Um, not really. Any reason why you are drawing our attention to this now?

[Tim Lund]

Enough said, I think.

Um, not really. Any reason why you are drawing our attention to this now?

Yes, but although I have my meter off, I'm in a client's office with the head honcho over from New York in the office behind me, to you'll have to wait

[JRobinson]

I think that Tim might be suggesting that if you have a need to contact the police by phone then it's clearly urgent, and there shouldn't be a need for a 'non urgent' phone number.
of course, if you're just ringing up to follow up something, that's obviously not urgent, so you'd ring the number of your local station... which are all closing down, and being centralised, hence the need for one single number for none urgent calls - 101.

personally i think this works well. I've used it, and the messge that I needed to convey got taken, and forwarded to the policed officer concerned, and what needed to be done was done. Hurrah for the police service I say.
the 101 number keeps numptys off the 999 emergency services number, and stops them wasting time (but of course only if they know about it)

[Rachael]

I've used to too, when my shed was broken into. Nothing was stolen, but things were moved around. I wanted to let the police know in case there had been other incidents they wanted to link it too. Not urgent so called 101. A couple of officers popped in to have a look later that day when they were passing by. Job done, no need to dial 999 or find my local station.

[admin]

An excuse to post this from Lewisham Met received yesterday about tackling burglaries:
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Police in Lewisham today, 16 September 2013 begin an operation to tackle the seasonal increase in burglary during the Autumn and winter months. Operation Undercut will focus on areas currently suffering from burglaries and areas known historically to suffer from burglaries at this time of the year. Operation Undercut will target these specific areas and specific offenders with a zero tolerance approach.

Residents will see an increased police presence, with extra patrols by uniformed and plain-clothed officers. Officers through these increased patrols and intelligence gathering will target anyone suspected of being involved in burglary with a view to disrupting their activity and securing arrests.

Officers will also be targeting people known to commit burglary.
Acting Detective Inspector Andy Durham, Serious Acquisitive Crime Lewisham said: “This operation is not only about securing arrests we hope to alert residents to the seasonal increase in burglary and to encourage them to take extra precautions regarding their home security."

"Burglary is a violation of people’s homes, a place where individuals and their families should feel safe and secure. We are now entering a period which traditionally sees an increase in criminal activity and although many residential burglaries are as a result of criminals forcing their way into homes, many thefts can be prevented if everyone takes simple measures to protect their property."

Steps that can be taken to protect your home:

• Close and lock all your doors and windows, even if you are only going out for a few minutes.
• Make sure UPVC doors are properly locked with a key.
• Make sure the side and/or back gate is locked.
• Lock your shed or garage and ensure all tools are locked away
• Make sure that any valuables are out of sight.
• Leave some lights on if it will be dark before you get home.
• Don’t leave your car keys or ID documents near doors, windows or your letterbox

A/DI Andy Durham added "Operation Undercut is also about sending a clear message to the criminals who should take note of the pro-active approach we are taking and think twice before targeting properties. My message to them is this we will not hesitate to exercise the powers available to us to stop you if we know you are offending."

[Tim Lund]

I think that Tim might be suggesting that if you have a need to contact the police by phone then it's clearly urgent, and there shouldn't be a need for a 'non urgent' phone number.

Actually, I'm saying almost the complete opposite. I think the idea of a non-urgent number is so brilliant I can't believe it's not known more widely, but I only learned about it last night thanks to a presentation by the police at the Perry Vale local assembly. So, Rachael, that's why I mention it now, and I posted it the way I did because the message is so simple that it can be put across in the subject line of a thread.

Since when I've been asking various people if they know about this number. About 50% are like me, and had never even heard of it, while the other 50% know that there was some such number, but weren't sure what it was.

Since the message got through to me thanks to the presentation last night, it's maybe a bit unfair to criticise it, but overall I felt it was confused, because it should have just been about this simple message. Instead, there was lots about all the other ways we can be in touch with the police other than by 999, such as drop in sessions at Sainsbury's, their web site, Twitter. At which point someone pointed out that not everyone is on Twitter, or wants to be on Twitter, and overall aim - of helping communications with the police - got lost.

There ought to be a well thought through communications strategy, with the aim of getting a similar level of '101' awareness as there is of '999' awareness, and to that end, perhaps a well produced video to show at events such as last night's assembly with this message, but a role for the local PC who was showing it to identify with, and explain how calling 101 would quickly get through to him or one of his collleagues. It would also be the best way to tell people where they could meet the police in person, since I don't suppose that the particular times they mentioned will be for ever, and anyway I didn't remember them.

In contrast to 101, which I'm repearting here as often as I am because that's how we remember things.

[14BradfordRoad]

Thanks Tim,
Using 101 for non-urgent situations allows them to deal with real emergencies more efficiently.
Used this today as a follow up after observing a road rage incident that I thought they should be
made aware of even if just for their records. Good idea to seperate urgent 999 and non-urgent 101.
Not too hard to remember either.

[Rachael]

Thanks Tim,
Using 101 for non-urgent situations allows them to deal with real emergencies more efficiently.
Used this today as a follow up after observing a road rage incident that I thought they should be
made aware of even if just for their records. Good idea to seperate urgent 999 and non-urgent 101.
Not too hard to remember either.

Was that the incident on Sydenham Road today? I got a garbled account from my 12 year-old who was stuck on a bus watching what seemed like a game of real-life dodgems.

[14BradfordRoad]

Was that the incident on Sydenham Road today? I got a garbled account from my 12 year-old who was stuck on a bus watching what seemed like a game of real-life dodgems.

Must have been something (madness?) in the air today Rachael. My incident was in Welling where 2 lads
on a motor scooter were causing mahem, the pillion passenger was kicking cars as they rode past. He
kicked my mirror clean off of my drivers door as they sped past. Lunatics that the police should be made
aware of (even if just for their records). Wonder what had happened in Sydenham road?

[Tim Lund]

Thanks Tim,
Using 101 for non-urgent situations allows them to deal with real emergencies more efficiently.
Used this today as a follow up after observing a road rage incident that I thought they should be
made aware of even if just for their records. Good idea to seperate urgent 999 and non-urgent 101.
Not too hard to remember either.

Delighted to be of service

Separating calls according to their urgency goes to the heart of the matter, and this is a way we as members of the public can help. But there has to be much more the police will be able to do in response to our calls. It will raise some questions of privacy, but I'm sure they will be logging the numbers making any 101 anyway - 999 callers are certainly logged. With 101 calls, they could monitor calls from numbers starting 020-8699 or 020-8659 and immediately direct them to our local police or police support officers. It should also be possible with modern IT to build up a database of mobile numbers, so that those previously, or at least recently, reporting issues to do with a particular area also go straight through to the local police. Perhaps I'm letting my IT developer imagination run away with itself here, but numbers of callers could also be profiled, so that ones with a track record of giving useful information could be given higher priority, while those (there must be some) who call too often, maybe because they are lonely and isolated, get channeled to a specially trained sympathetic ear, who can deal with the call tactfully. If callers' names are logged then a good system could allow whoever picks the call up to say immediately "Good afternoon, Mr xxxx", which I think would be appreciated.

I don't know if people are already thinking along these lines, but it has to be possible, and it isn't actually necesary for 101 to be a useful service. It's part of why it's such a good idea - because it has the potential to link in with modern IT power to deliver far, far more.