West Midlands Police 'tweetathon' highlights inappropriate 999 calls

 

Sophie Warnes
Friday 01 February 2013 21:29 GMT
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A British police force fed up with time-wasting 999 calls is staging a one-day 'tweetathon' to highlight the problem and encourage people to use the non-emergency number, 101.

West Midlands Police hope that tweeting ridiculous 999 phonecalls from their @WMPolice account will reduce the number of non-emergency calls they handle, freeing up time to deal with genuine emergencies.

One tweet said: "999 Call...mother has called 999 as child would not walk home! Is this a life or death emergency?"

Some of the tweets have audio of the call attached, such as the woman who called for police assistance when she couldn't access her laptop.

Another tweet from an officer in the force said: "Interesting start to the shift..male called 999 to say he has a heart problem as he is in love with a girl whom he does not know!"

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