Yet another 999 Idiot

[xpod]

Make 999 calls about £20 a shot instead of being free. At a stroke that'll cut down on the timewasters and if you really need the Ambulance/Fire Brigade/Police you won't care what it costs.

I wonder how many pensioners & other vulnerable people wouldn`t bother calling when the really needed to simply because they were too concerned about where the £20 was coming from?...Keeping in mind how many die during the colder months each year because they worry how their going to pay for the extra heating requirements.

We could always reimburse genuine calls i suppose.

[Kymmy]

Charging for a genuine call is NOT the answer..

What should happen is that there should be a fixed penalty system for people that do make the stupid calls.. and if they can't trace them down (for example a PAYG mobile) then the mobile should be inhibited by banning the IMEI number until the fixed penalty is paid.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Charging for a genuine call is NOT the answer..

I don't know. Maybe moving to a charging system for all the emergency services might be a plan.

£50 a pop for CPR by a paramedic, £10 extra every time you get shocked with a defibralator
£250 for getting a cat out a tree by Trumpton, cut down to a fiver if they just shoot it down with a burst of water from a hose.
£100 for Plod to sit at the bottom of your street with a speedgun for an hour so the kiddies can play in the street without being taken out by a boy racer.

I am kidding by the way

The £20 comments was half-joking. Obviously it would never work with PAYG mobiles and pay-phones and for persistant abuse phones can already be cut-off.

Seriously though maybe some form of non-emergency number may be the best way forward with people abusing the system named/shamed and if necessary fined.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Derek S

Seriously though maybe some form of non-emergency number may be the best way forward with people abusing the system named/shamed and if necessary fined.

Sorry but i was under the impression that was already in place ?

[budwieser]

Originally Posted by Sirius

?

People who throw things.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Derek S

Seriously though maybe some form of non-emergency number may be the best way forward with people abusing the system named/shamed and if necessary fined.

Sorry but i was under the impression that was already in place ?

Like all forces, South Yorkshire has an non-emergency number - 0114 2202020 - for calls which fall outside this definition of seriousness.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Sorry but i was under the impression that was already in place ?

I was thinking more like 111, 123 etc. for all services and not just the Police non-emergency number.

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by Derek S

I was thinking more like 111, 123 etc. for all services and not just the Police non-emergency number.

But should people with smelly feet, or no credit on thier phone and wanting to be put through to a friend actually be using any police number???

These people need a short sharp shock (cattle prod comes to mind) as it's the only way they'll learn

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Derek S

I was thinking more like 111, 123 etc. for all services and not just the Police non-emergency number.

Ok

good idea

[Stuart]

The problem is that if you start punishing people for making stupid phone calls to 999, you risk putting off genuine cases. For example, someone suffering slight pains in their chest may think "oh, it's wind, it'll go away" when they are actually suffering the beginnings of a heart attack..

[Derek]

It is a balancing act.

Hoax calls are IMO far more of a problem than calls that end up with the operator politely (or in some cases not so politely) telling them to go away.

[rogerdraig]

Originally Posted by Russ B

I disagree about fining these people - if they're "intellectually challenged" enough to dial 999 because there's a spider in the bath or something, are they going learn a lesson from being fined?

agree

also alot of these stories coincide with attempts to streamline 999 services even more with the idea if these people didn't call they could save money by employing less people

a few years back it was silent calls which led to the introduction of automated silent call cut off software which i find stupid to though they defend that with the way it asks you to tap 5 5 if you cant speak ! Alot of use that if you have your hand in your pocket because you don't want people to see you are dialling is it and how many of you know that pressing 5 5 after connection will get you through to police in those circumstances ?

999 can be miss used but all calls should be answered and then were appropriate education or prosecution for malicious calls is the way to deal with all of this

[soicky]

Originally Posted by Derek S

Seriously though maybe some form of non-emergency number may be the best way forward with people abusing the system named/shamed and if necessary fined.

There are already in place but most people wont know them off by heart. Maybe introducing a new one 998 or something which would be easy to remember or you could spend thousands on advertising the one already in place for each region.

[rogerdraig]

Originally Posted by soicky

There are already in place but most people wont know them off by heart. Maybe introducing a new one 998 or something which would be easy to remember or you could spend thousands on advertising the one already in place for each region.

no alternate number will work with out years of heavy advertising something like the 118 118 ads which will the only number that most remember for dir enq now

till then education is they key to many assume that people can make these desicions easily school would be the place to start with examples so those who are not getting it right now may do so and you have a line to show where its just stupidity or maliciousness

[Stuart]

In 2006 101 was made available in some areas as a non-emergency number for police and local authorities in several areas in England and Wales with complete coverage scheduled for 2008, however funding was pulled by the Home Office in 2007 causing some of the 101 lines to close.[8][9][10] However, some other numbers are sometimes classed as "emergency", particularly 0800 111 999 for gas leaks (0800 being a free call prefix), and 08 45 46 47 for NHS Direct (0845 being a local-rate prefix).

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergen..._number#Europe (relevant section quoted above), the government did start setting up a number for non-emergency calls, 101. But, they only got as far as trialling it in some areas and while they were planning to roll it out nationally by 2008, the home office cut funding and a lot of the trial areas closed.