'Help, there's a rat in my kitchen!': Police reveal the astonishing non-urgent calls they have received to 999 operators as they introduce an 'appointments system'
- Merseyside Police want to highlight amount of non-urgent calls it receives
- Out of the 2,500 calls a day, up to 2,000 do not require immediate help
- This week it launches an appointment system for non-urgent callers
- 999 should only be called if crime is in progress, someone is injured or people are in danger or a suspect is still in the vicinity, police said
A rat in a kitchen and the wrong takeaway delivery are among the astonishing non-urgent reasons people have called one forces emergency 999 number.
Merseyside Police wants to highlight the number of non-urgent calls it receives requesting immediate police assistance and is set to introduce an 'appointments system' for callers this week.
Time wasting calls to the 999 service included, a disgruntled customer complaining he had had the wrong takeaway delivered and a woman who said there was a, 'rat in my kitchen and I've been ringing the housing...but I'm terrified, literally'.
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Merseyside Police (headquaters pictured) wants to highlight the number of non-urgent calls it receives requesting immediate police assistance and is set to introduce an 'appointments system' for callers this week
Time wasting calls to the 999 service included, a disgruntled customer complaining he had had the wrong takeaway delivered and a woman telling a call handler that she had, 'got a rat in my kitchen'
Another man rang the emergency number to retrieve his coat from a bar because he was not allowed back in.
The force says of 2,500 calls it receives a day, up to 2,000 do not require immediate help.
This week it launched an appointment system for non-urgent callers. Instead of waiting for the first available patrol, the call handler will arrange a convenient time an officer can visit or the caller can come to the local police station.
Chief Superintendent Ngaire Waine, head of the force Contact, Crime and Resolution department, said: 'Currently we dispatch patrols to those non-urgent calls when an officer is available, but this is not always convenient for the caller.
'We hope that the introduction of the new appointment system will make the caller's experience of police contact more convenient and less stressful, by providing a time and location that is convenient to them and fits in with their work and family schedule.
'There are still a lot of people out there who call the police in relation to incidents which do not require a police service.
'We receive calls about all sorts of issues from rat infestations to cats up trees and blocked drains, because people aren't sure who they should contact.
'These types of calls can put extra pressure on our call handlers and could slow down their ability to respond to a caller who is in urgent need of a police response.'
People should only call 999 if a crime is in progress, someone is injured or people are in danger, or a suspect is still in the vicinity, police said.
As well as the non-urgent 101 number, members of the public can report non urgent crimes via a direct e-mail account, COMMCEN@merseyside.pnn.police.uk, or via the force website www.merseyside.police.uk.
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