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‘Have you got a number for a taxi?’ isn’t really a police emergency… but this was a 999 call Hertfordshire Constabulary answered recently.
Throughout January 2025, we’re asking people to heed our New Year plea – to keep our phonelines free – and go online, unless it’s 999.
“We want to keep our phonelines for potentially life-threatening and crime-in-action 999 emergency calls, rather than responding to queries which could be dealt with online, so I’m asking people to help us help our communities by using our phonelines carefully,” said Sergeant Rich Baker, a Deputy Force Incident Manager in the Force Communications Room (FCR).
“I don’t think callers mean to waste our time, but obviously the example of someone calling to ask for a taxi number is one where 999 was not the right shout.
“Our website, herts.police.uk/report has a wealth of options for reporting non-urgent incidents and crime, including live chat, to a person, not a chatbot, there are simple reporting forms and finally, there’s 101, where you may need to wait on the line for an available call handler.”
Each day, around 500 999 calls and 1,000 101 calls come into the constabulary’s FCR at police headquarters in Welwyn Garden City.
Of those, around one-third of those calls should have been directed elsewhere – to councils or other organisations.
A large number could be reported online rather than waiting on the phone. Online reports are assessed by our experienced call handlers – the same people who take 999 and 101 calls – and dealt with as if they were taking the report over the phone.
“The website askthe.police.uk is a great starting point if you’re not sure if it’s a police matter.”
You can report non-emergency crime, damage-only road traffic collisions and more online, speak to an operator in our FCR via our online web chat or call the non-emergency number 101.
In an emergency situation call 999.