to think that 101 is for reporting police matters, which do NOT include

[Fideliney]

teenagers innocently entering parks, people removing their clothes in their own bedrooms or legally parked cars on public roads?

I can't help wondering if all the MNers who advise 'Call 101' for every minor incident of nothingness actually phone the police all the time in their own lives, or whether they just enjoy suggesting to strangers online.

Yanbu. At all.

YABU.. 101 is there precisely to deal with non-emergencies. If someone is worried about the legality of something - even if it appears trivial or ridiculous - then it's good that they can chat it through with someone knowledgeable and it stops there rather than call 999 and waste valuable resources.

Yanbu! I amazed the amount if times the 'call 101' line gets trotted out for things which have nothing to do with the police.

YANBU - it's the Police! It's not a general advice line. I've seen so many threads suggest it for ridiculous reasons - e.g someone knocked on my door at 5am - call 101. Someone just threw a cigarette butt over my garden hedge, should I call 101?. Get some grips people!!

Yanbu. I often wonder if the people dishing out the advice to ring would actually do so themselves.

'Taking off clothes in own bedrooms' Please say that's not an actual thread?!

Oh come on Cog by that logic it is reasonable to take up 101 time with anything that enters your head, however unreasonable. And are you honestly saying the 999 service takes valuable resources to run but the 101 service somehow doesn't?

There has to be some onus on people to use their common sense - there have been absolutely corking 'rig 101' suggestions on MN this week.

Yanbu but I suppose it beats ringing 999.

you say that but after a local burglary, I mentioned that i had seen some dodgy blokes in the middle of the night bla blabla the week before, they said they would always rather someone ran info past them about unusual behaviour than not

( there is never ANY activity around here at night ever, you can hear a pin drop)

There was a thread about a guy in his becroom naked. The OP called him nasty just for being naked. He was standing at the window swinging his penis.

*bedroom

he wasn't

True Morris. I will concede that much and no more.

I'm afraid it was Alex - all three examples in my OP have been threads this week

Oh I'm not complaining about 101 being used to report genuinely suspicious/dodgy things Karl. I am just more and more at how 101 happy some posters seem to be.

He was not swinging it Wandering! I thought he was supposed to be walking around his bedroom chatting to his GF with the curtains open?

YANBU OP. The 'naked' bloke was only seen topless by the nosey neighbour.

All I can say is that the police in the rest of the UK must be considerably more helpful than the police here (NI). I've only ever contacted the police twice. Once when I was the victim of an attempted carjacking, and once when a bunch of teenagers in a (very distinctive) car were terrorising pedestrians in town by driving straight at them at speed when they were crossing the road before skidding to a halt. Both times I was told that unless I could name the perpetrators they weren't police matters. They were, however, very interested in me, in my name, dob, ethnicity etc, for their statistics.

I don't think I'd report anything to the police these days unless it was vital eg a murder, because they have made it clear that they don't want to know.

Both times I was told that unless I could name the perpetrators they weren't police matters.

Gosh. Do you even have 101? I don't suppose there would be much point.

yes but I thought it was nothing - would never have considered 101.
I was a lone voice thinking the naked man in the window WAS odd, it wa a full length window illuminated.
Am sure that would have been a Sec 5 public order if it happened often.

He WASNT swinging it. I didn't read before I posted. I blame the kids. They have kept me up most of the night so I am sleep deprived. Maybe I should phone 101 on them

Ah! Reading naked neighbour thread now. Why don't we have the FBI in this country? This would be right up their street.

I have called 101 once on a drink driver & once on a stray dog coz we don't have dog wardens.