To ask why you've phoned the police?

Call to the police recently - walking my dogs on a footpath that leads up to a few local villages. A teenage boy walked past looking dazed - one shoe off, clothing disheveled - like he had been in an accident or been attacked. I asked if he was ok, he looked right through me with that not computing look people get sometimes when they are in shock. I lost him (had to stop to pick up poop), so called the non emergency number for advice, and they sent someone to find him. With all the stories about not attending, I was really impressed.

Two incidences of suspected domestic violence amongst neighbours (two different sets, sadly).

With the first one I ummed and ahhed about calling as I was always hearing them rowing, but this sounded more serious; like things were being thrown. They convinced the police that they weren’t a couple and were actually just housemates who hadn’t been getting on, and a row had got out of hand. I was very sceptical when the police came downstairs to tell me this… thankfully, they hadn’t realised the police were downstairs in my flat and started up again, so they went straight back up.

With the second one, I knew there were children in the house. The older boy (no more than eight or nine) had taken his little brother out into the front garden and was trying to distract him by pointing at the cars going past. I didn’t hesitate after that. When a child that age knows it’s time to get his younger sibling out of the house, something is very wrong.

1. ‘Two men in balaclavas in a car at the traffic lights outside our village post office. Call handler wanted to know what offence I thought they had committed. Had they jumped the traffic lights? I pointed out that it was 22 degrees in the middle of June and might be a bit suspicious.’

999 when I was a YA walking home from a party in the wee hours, I passed a street where someone had set fire to a bin which in turn had set fire to a tree which was near a house. I remember being like wow so this is 999.

Funnily enough, called 111 when I suffered a sudden haemorrhage out of the blue on Halloween (two weeks post op sitting down on the couch to watch hocus pocus). I've been listening to Ali smiths amazing Life Lines on radio 4, and I can't work out why I didn't think loosing huge amounts of blood wasn't 999 worthy.

Three times.

1. Two men in balaclavas in a car at the traffic lights outside our village post office. Call handler wanted to know what offence I thought they had committed. Had they jumped the traffic lights? I pointed out that it was 22 degrees in the middle of June and might be a bit suspicious.
2. Two people battering another. DH wanted to get out of the car to intervene but I wouldn’t let him.
3. 5 men in masks at 3am on our driveway. Broke into our neighbours car. Police came very quickly and got them after a chase.

At least once a week for 999 calls & prob 3-4 non emergency (live chat/report online) at work. Mostly public order, mental health - concern for welfare , theft, assault .

Have called several times for several reasons, both 999 and 101. Mostly motoring-related having read back over my list!

999:

1. Someone who switched off their headlights and was weaving about the unlit motorway in the dark, trying to run me off the road and I was frightened for my life.

2. Someone running down the street wielding a knife.

3. A flock of escaped sheep in country lanes, just waiting to cause an accident.

4. A loose dog on the motorway which people were swerving to avoid.

5. Someone broke in at work.

6. Someone sitting on the wrong side of the railings on the flyover.

7. When I was in a taxi that was hit by a clearly very drunk driver.

8. A really nasty RTA involving a pedestrian.

101:

1. Hit and run on my car.

2. Hit and run on someone else’s parked car.

How did that go? Did he say "sorry I'm only doing this because I'm poor. I don't want to hurt you"

When the neighbour punched me in the face for asking him to turn down the music at 3am.

Once for some suspicious activity when a bunch of young men were in a car near my workplace and I thought they may have stolen the car and then another time when a neighbour was clearly having mental health issues. He'd bene intimidating people walking past his house anyway and trying to cause fights, but when he was walking up and down the back alley one night at around midnight shouting he was going to kill someone, I called the police.

I also called the police when the very loud neighbours next door had someone banging hard on the back door and making a right racket. I thought someone was trying to break in and couldn't see as it was so dark. Apparently it was the next door neighbour making the racket. Dicks.

We were driving on the motorway and saw a young man climbing onto an overhead footbridge. I rang 999 (DH was driving) and we saw a police car driving towards the bridge on the opposite side within a minute or two.

I was asleep when I heard someone moving around downstairs. I was living in my house on my own. I was scared shitless.
Police arrived and I threw a key down to them.
It turned out to be my ex husband, he was very very drunk and had missed the last train home so he thought he'd show up at my house and use it as a free B&B.
Needless to say the police removed him I don't care where. He still had a back door key. I changed the locks asap.

I live near some flats that seems to attract domestic incidents that spill outside my house so have called 999 about 3-4 times for blokes being aggressive towards who I assume are their partners. I called 999 for a man who fell in his garden in the house behind ours. He had his leg amputated and ended up in a care home.

I caught my cleaner stealing from my bag. They came within 5 minutes and arrested her.

When a neighbour set their car on fire for an insurance claim (it had already been called in). More recently when kids were messing on a pile of building materials outside our house. Asked them not to as it was dangerous. Got told to f off (by kids aged 10!!!!) police sorted them out

I’ve called the Police for a mass brawl after a night out, for a live burglary I’d walked in to in an empty building I was responsible for and to assist in a suicide attempt where a lady was trying to jump off a bridge onto the road below (where my car with my kids was).

I’ve called an ambulance for a suspected heart attack for my parent, and a heart episode for myself.

A man was trying to break our front door down with a spade at 6am on a Sunday morning. They were here before I'd put the phone down. (He was having a psychotic episode)

Called for domestic incident next door, could hear screaming, shouting, banging…was awful. Police had attended multiple times previously and arrived with 2 vehicles within minutes.

I’ve called once.

I saw a man pull up in a car, verbally use then drag his partner into his car by her hair then speed off.

I took a photo of his car reg but it turns out that the plates were fake so the police contacted me asking me if I was sure that was what happened. I didn’t take a photo of the man or woman which is what I should have done in hindsight 😔

999…. Somebody walking drunkenly along the central reservation of the dual carriageway. Also when someone attacked a woman outside our house - DH intervened and I rang police. When someone was trying to break into my dads house.

101 a few times for non-urgent stuff.

Last Sunday I called for several flare ups of violence at Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park. No points for guessing which ethnic/religious group instigated it each time.

Yes, a few times, mostly for road accidents, but also for a herd of sheep all over a dual carriageway. Also a couple of times for fires. Oh, and an old woman walking around in the middle of the night with a meat cleaver!

1. fire in a tree (that was the fire brigade and was an odd one)
2. Someone screaming outside at 2 am - sounded like a murder going on. The call handler was an arse, couldn’t comprehend why I was not about the exit a secure building to go and investigate, and I gave up and hung up saying that at least if they find a body in the morning they’ll have a record of when it happened.
3. breakdown on an A road in a location that made it dangerous.police came and flashed blue lights to warn people until the recovery truck came.

Because I foolishly thought they might try to protect us and our disabled son from gangs of stone throwing arseholes.

More fool me.

How dreadful for you Doing the right thing doesn't always pay. I sometimes wonder what trouble would come to your door after doing a good turn?