Met Police reminds Londoners to only call 999 in genuine emergencies

Shocking figures released today show just 15 per cent of 999 calls made to the Met Police are genuine emergencies, as officers remind the public to only call in urgent or life-threatening situations.

In the past year Met call handlers have been contacted by people frustrated by their delivery drivers not turning up, someone who had a spider in their room and in one instance because their dog was not coming back into the house.

These calls are taking up valuable call handler time, stopping them from dealing with genuine emergencies and doing their invaluable job in keeping Londoners safe.

The Metropolitan Police Service is today telling Londoners they will always be available 24/7 to respond to genuine 999 emergencies, but is urging the public to think before they call.

Commander Caroline Haines who heads up the Met’s Command and Control said:

"When someone’s life is in danger, or a crime is being committed, seconds count. Unfortunately, too many people call 999 for things that simply aren’t an emergency or a matter for police.

“These calls could mean someone who is in genuine need and danger must wait longer to get the help they urgently need.

“That is why we’re running a campaign to remind the public of the other ways they can contact us, so we can focus on keeping London safe. Let’s keep 999 free for those who genuinely need it.”

Some of the main reasons for calling 999 unnecessarily include: asking for updates on previous crime reports, reporting crimes which aren’t immediately happening; reporting items stolen days or even weeks later, or civil disputes, such as arguments between tenants and landlords.

People should always call 999 when:

A crime is in progress

There is threat to life

Someone is in immediate danger

When is the right time to call 101?

To report a crime that has previously happened

Low-level situations such as a noise complaint or minor anti-social behaviour

Those who accidentally call 999 are asked to stay on the phone until they have spoken to an operator, otherwise handlers have to spend time undertaking a risk assessment to make sure the person who called isn’t in danger.

Londoners can continue to call 101 or report online through met.police.uk/contact-us.

Notes to editors:

In a one-year period (July 24-July 25) over 4 million incidents were reported, over 2.2 million of these were reported via 999 calls of which only 15% required an immediate dispatch

The top two reasons for 999 calls in this period were 1) Abandoned calls (22%) and 2) Contact record (21%) of which around 88% and 97% respectively did not require a police response at all. Each abandoned call takes approx. 15 mins for the call handler to carry out a follow up risk assessment/check. ‘Contact record’ covers instances where people are ringing to report further information on a crime already reported or to request a crime reference number (particularly when they’ve already been given it but lost it).