WEST Mercia Police have urged people who accidentally call 999 to stay on the line and inform the operator they are OK as the number of accidental calls in May was double of last year.
In May 2023, West Mercia Police’s operations and communications centre received almost 20,000 999 calls, of which 4,791 were abandoned.
This figure is an increase of 100 percent compared to May 2022, with a total of 150 abandoned calls occurring every day.
Call handlers have to spend time investigating if an abandoned caller is safe as sometimes these calls can be genuine emergencies despite many being pocket dials or children playing with their parent’s phone.
To help the police establish real emergencies quickly, they are urging accidental callers to stay on the line and explain the situation to call handlers.
Public contact chief inspector, Carrie Solomon said: “With every abandoned call, we need to check on the caller’s welfare, which means in some cases, we’ll dispatch an officer to find them.
“Our call handlers will try to phone the person back, but if they can’t get through, they’ll contact their network supplier to pinpoint where they are.
“We can’t assume that the person is okay – and every second counts in an emergency.”
The vast majority of abandoned calls are accidental and the issue of these types of calls affects emergency services nationwide.
West Mercia Police have also warned that improvements to phone and smart watch software, make it easier for you to contact police in an emergency, but inadvertently increase the possibility of pocket dials.
Solomon continues: “Phone users usually hang up quickly out of panic and embarrassment.
“We understand that accidental calls like this happen to everyone at some point. The key thing is letting us know you’re safe.
“We’d much rather spend a couple of minutes on the phone to you whilst you explain, than spend an hour tracking you down.”
