Appeal to call 999 responsibly after caller rings to complain about a police helicopter 'keeping him up'

Nottinghamshire Police has released another of the misplaced calls made to its 999 emergency number in recent weeks, as the force continues to appeal to the public to use its emergency line responsibly.
The caller of the latest misplaced emergency call released by the force said: The police helicopter is over my property and I cant sleep because of the noise.The caller of the latest misplaced emergency call released by the force said: The police helicopter is over my property and I cant sleep because of the noise.
The caller of the latest misplaced emergency call released by the force said: The police helicopter is over my property and I cant sleep because of the noise.

The caller of the latest misplaced ‘emergency’ call released by the force said: “The police helicopter is over my property and I can’t sleep because of the noise.”

In the past few weeks alone, the force’s 999 emergency call handlers have taken calls from people who were asking staff to book them a taxi, give advice on issues with rats in their property, talk to them about lost property, let them know about train timetables and even find out when their car insurance is due to expire.

Supt Paul Burrows, from Nottinghamshire Police, said: “The vast majority of people who call our emergency number do so responsibly when they are most in need, recognising that 999 should only be used for genuine emergencies or when a crime is currently in progress.

“A small minority, however, continue to make misplaced calls to our emergency number, which takes our dedicated team away from dealing with genuine emergencies, meaning they can’t be at the end of the phone when people really do need them most.

“Neither our 999 or 101 numbers should be used to complain about being kept awake by the police helicopter, however – not least because we only request support from the police helicopter to help us to look for vulnerable people, assist us in tracking-down some of the most dangerous people in society or to help us in any other way to help to keep the public safe.”

Please use 999 responsibly

Please think before picking-up the phone and only call 999 when life is in danger, someone is seriously injured, someone is using or threatening to use violence, a crime is in progress, there is serious damage being caused to property or whenever else an immediate police response is required.

For all other non-emergency policing matters, please 101 or visit – www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/advice – for advice on how to deal with hundreds of policing and non-policing matters.

By not calling 999 when it’s anything less than an emergency, you can help to ensure the force’s call handlers can be on-hand when people really do need them the most.