A man dialled 999 to tell police he thought he was being followed down the street by a cat. Police have now urged people to avoid calling 999 unless to notify officers of a genuine emergency after receiving a call from a distressed man who thought they were being followed by a cat.
Chief Superintendent Dan Ivey tweeted: “Can’t quite believe I’m typing this but I’ve just been told one of our most recent calls on 999 was someone reporting being followed down the road by a cat. Yes A CAT. I had to listen to the call myself to believe it.”
He gave further detail to MyLondon, adding that the person “was suggesting the cat had been following them ‘for some time’ down the road and didn’t belong to them.”
Chief Supt Ivey told LBC that “we have people phoning up on the 999 system to order pizza”. A spokesperson for the Met Police added: “Hoax calls, non-emergencies and pocket dials inflict a surge of 999 calls.
“Think before you dial, Only call 999 if a crime is in progress, an immediate danger or threat to life. Otherwise call 101 or contact us online http://met.police.uk By using the correct reporting method, you could be saving someone’s life.”
Emergency operators across the UK are being kept unnecessarily busy by a shocking number of prank police emergency calls, according to a new analysis.
Home security specialists, SimpliSafe undertook a series of Freedom of Information requests to uncover which UK constabularies receive the most prank calls in a year. England as a whole received a shockingly high number of prank calls - with 91,290 between 2020 and 2021 and 102,930 between 2021 and 2022 - that’s a 13% increase in calls in a year.
The county of Hertfordshire was discovered to have the highest number of prank emergency calls, with a total of 49,740 made over two years between September 2020 and September 2022. This averages out to over 68 prank calls per day. If that picture wasn’t bad enough, there was a sharp increase of hoax calls to Hertfordshire police of 27% between 2021 and 2022 to 27,841.
The biggest percentage increase year-on-year was London, where prank calls grew 200% in the consecutive year. However, there were some outliers, with North Yorkshire Police in particular experiencing a 52% reduction in prank calls year-on-year with numbers dropping from 4,968 to 2,389.
With these alarming statistics, UK General Manager at SimpliSafe, Jonathan Wall advises Brits to take extra measures to help protect themselves whilst helping to reduce the number of prank and false alarms: “The amount of hoax calls the police received across the UK is very worrying, especially when the emergency services are stretched so thin. These calls are a waste of resources and misdirect help from the people who really need it.
“There are plenty of precautions and measures that the average person can take to help protect themselves, whilst taking some pressure off the emergency services; such as cameras outside your home and a good alarm system.
“Of course, if there is a genuine situation that requires the help of the emergency services, the right course of action is to dial 999. Ensuring that you’re fully protected and aware of what constitutes an emergency will help ensure you get the right help when you need it most."
When these numbers are viewed next to the actual crime rates from the same time scales, we can see a very similar trend. In the year ending September 2021, the crime rate around the UK was 5.8 million. However from September 2021 through to June the following year, the crime rate rose over 12% up to 6.5 million. This increase could partially explain some of the numbers as an increase in crime would directly correlate with an increase in calls, prank or not.
UK constabularies that receive the most “prank calls” (Sept 2021/Sept 2022):
Hertfordshire Police - 21,899 / 27,841
Bedfordshire Police - 14417 / 19609
Leicestershire Police - 11,964 / 15,429
Lancashire Constabulary - 10,028 / 11,227
Derbyshire Constabulary - 7352 / 7027
North Yorkshire Police - 4968 / 2389
Greater Manchester Police - 4954 / 3942
Police Service of Northern Ireland - 4383 / 5271
Essex Police - 2587 / 1803
Surrey Police - 1749 / 1368
Cleveland Police - 1337 / 1580
Merseyside Police - 1324 / 1471
Cambridgeshire Constabulary - 1071 / 820
Lincolnshire Police - 568 / 510
Gloucestershire Constabulary - 368 / 455
Avon and Somerset Constabulary - 301 / 215
Devon and Cornwall Constabulary - 295 / 378
Kent Police - 286 / 344
Humberside Police - 250 / 58
Gwent Police - 248 / 244
Suffolk Constabulary - 246 / 238
Norfolk Constabulary - 171 / 138
Dorset Police - 163 / 153
Northamptonshire Police - 159 / 153
Cumbria Constabulary - 150 / 145
City of London Police - 32 / 96
North Wales Police - 20 / 26
