Honiton police launch campaign to reduce non-emergency 999 calls

This week police in Honiton have launched a campaign to help manage demand on their contact centre during the festive season.

Every Christmas and New Year, calls to 999 increase and while a lot are genuine emergencies, many are not.

In November alone the police have seen a 23% increase in 999 calls compared to last year, and it is expected this continued increase will be seen over the festive period.

As part of the campaign, the force has created a series of funny videos to accompany real recordings of inappropriate calls to the emergency 999 number.

The first video released this week via Devon and Cornwall Police's social media channels (Facebook/Twitter) is entitled #999SwallowedCard. The videos illustrates a man calling because his bank card has been swallowed by a cashpoint.

Three further videos: #999WhatNumber, #999OrangeHair and #999BaconSandwich will be released during the coming weeks.

All the videos illustrate real calls the force has received and were not emergencies.

It is hoped the comical and ridiculous nature of the calls will encourage people to share them and help educate people as to what is and is not an emergency.

Chief Superintendent Dan Evans from Devon and Cornwall Police said "999 calls take precedence for the force, and we will always prioritise these calls. However we have seen an increased demand in the numbers of 999 calls both genuine and not that we have received this year already, and we are expecting this to increase further during the festive season.

"As many as one in three calls to 999 are not emergencies. The calls we've chosen to highlight not only show the misappropriate use of 999 but the lack of understanding of what is an emergency.

"We aim to answer 999 calls within 10 seconds, but if operators find themselves continually tied up with improper calls this prevents us dealing with genuine emergencies. By highlighting some of the more comical inappropriate calls we hope this will help people understand the importance of the using the emergency 999 number for the right reasons.

"We realise that sometimes people don't know who to contact, and often see the police as their first port of call, especially if they feel there is a need for an immediate answer. However, we would ask, if your call clearly isn't an emergency and you need help or advice then visit our website – dc.police.uk where you can find the answer to the most commonly asked questions.

"Our website has a wealth of information to help resolve queries, you can also use AskNED – our non-emergency directory which can help with all manner of questions. Plus you can report non-emergency queries easily by using our online contact methods – Webchat, Email 101 and Report Crime Online."

To view the campaign's first video click the red button below.