A police force is complaining about timewasters on Twitter, exposing people who ring 999 for ridiculous reasons, from a couple rowing over a duvet cover to one man wanting to check David Cameron is okay.
Gwent Police is using social media to warn people against dialling 999 unnecessarily – with hilarious results.
The Welsh force revealed one woman rang the emergency control room because her husband refused to share their duvet cover.
A male caller rang up to ask officers to do a welfare check on former Prime Minister David Cameron because ‘they hadn’t seen him on TV for some time’.
A male caller rang up Gwent Police to ask officers to do a welfare check on former Prime Minister David Cameron because ‘they hadn’t seen him on TV for some time’
The Welsh force revealed one woman rang the emergency control room because her husband refused to share their duvet cover
Another irresponsible caller rang in to say he had been banned from a supermarket for complaining about a torch he bought
Officers continued posting some of the more unusual emergency calls they have received
Tweeting today they said: ‘This Christmas, we want to remind the public to only call 999 in an emergency to ensure we get the appropriate response to you.
‘Take a look at the calls that have come in that went straight on our naughty list, remember you are risking lives misusing the 999 number!’
Officers continued posting some of the more unusual emergency calls they have received.
One reads: ‘A man called 999 reporting that he had bought a torch from a well-known supermarket but it does not work, they will not refund the torch and he is now banned from the store.’
In England and Wales ‘wasting police time’ is an offence under section 5 (2) of the Criminal Law Act
Another said: ‘A member of public rang 999 to report concern for a young couple walking a dog in the park at 9.20pm with a young baby. Caller felt the baby should be in bed.’
The final irresponsible ring in was: ‘An intoxicated man rang 999 for a lift off Gwent Police, as he had no money for taxi.’
Gwent Police in south east Wales get an average of 150 to 200 emergency calls and 800 non-urgent calls every day.
The social media posts were intended to lighten their already overwhelming workload.
In England and Wales ‘wasting police time’ is an offence under section 5 (2) of the Criminal Law Act.
Gwent Police in south east Wales get an average of 150 to 200 emergency calls and 800 non-urgent calls every day
Offenders can be charged for ‘causing any wasteful employment of the police or knowingly making to any person a false report’.
This is not the first time Gwent Police have hit the headlines for their amusing social media strategy.
Last Christmas the force decided to start tweeting their success stories.
Abergavenny officers slated one offender for being a ‘wannabe gangster trying to take over a skate park’.
One tweet read: ‘Last Christmas We Gave You The Cells, And The Very Next Day Was A Court Holiday. This Year, To Save You From Tears ……. BEHAVE! #PCButt’.
Another said: ‘To the driver that failed to stop in Pill…we are better at hide and seek than you are 1-0 #dangerousdriver #seized #hideandseek’.
Over the Christmas period last year, Gwent Police decided to shame offenders by posting their convictions on social media
After catching up with a driver who failed to stop for an officer, they tweeted ‘1-0’