I have just tried to contact Thames Valley police. Initially, when they opened the 0845 contact centre they said we should not worry as we would still be able to contact local police offices.
  I wanted to find out if someone had handed in some lost keys, and found that they had sneakily reneged on their promise. I phoned the 0845 number, but my query was totally unsuited to the service, and all they could do was put me through to the local police office. The first attempt failed, the 0845 service dropped the line, and it was only on the second attempt that I got through, but to the wrong place, who tried to put me through a third time, only to return to tell me it was only an answering machine. They were taken aback at how angry I had become at this stage, having wasted 15 minutes to find out no-one was manning the local station, so I wasted some more complaining that not only was their service a rip-off, but was not fit for purpose, as my query CLEARLY required me to contact my local station. At first, I was told that they could not give out numbers as they were on an internal network, but the second member who felt my annoyance and failed to put me through gave me a direct number to keep trying. It was 01344 823523 - the Found property office of Bracknell police station. This is clearly NOT an "internal" number, but a bog standard geographic number of the form we were initially promised would not be phased out. I was told there was nothing the police could do about this and any complaint would "fall on deaf ears". I was told I could complain to my phone provider (alredy done, woth OFCOM siding with them as there is "sufficient competition in the market", or complain to my MP.
    I pointed out that the police policy has meant I no longer help them with reporting local crime, but will only use the number where I am directly affected by a non-emergency matter, and will only report other crime if I believe it is of sufficient importance to use 999 - pity there is no guidance on what kinds of incident are 999 material, and I fear being told off as there have been suggestions that inappropriate use of 999 should become a minor criminal infringement carrying a fixed fine (I don't mean hoaxes, that are already dealt with seriously by the law).
     OFCOM have indeed dealt with the 0870 issue to my satisfaction at last, but have opend the floodgates to 0845, 0844 and even 0871 being used as the next big scam (it's already happening here).
     The systems make it incredibly difficult to complain, as evidenced by the fruitless attempt to wring the truth from National Rail Enquiries, whose arguments are inconsistent with their actions.

    If they introduce 101 it makes no difference, as 10p is still 10p more than I might pay with a phone package, and it will have almost the same deterrent affect on me phoning just to report incidents that don't affect me personally. In it's favour though, I will not pay more than 10p due to their multiple menu levels and recorded messages, incompetence, inability to put me through, queues etc.

I would suggest you complain directly to the Chair of your local police authority, you should be able to find contact details on the police website, also it may be a local politician eg councillor in which case you might be able to find a more direct contact.   The was the case of one who gave out his mobile no on local radio!   He/she might be more prepared to listen to the concerns of the people rather than the police who are more used to the rigid application of rules!

When I saw the headline I thought that it was referring to calling the police. Then I read about how you can give your opinions....

Quote:

16,632 calls last month...  Guessing at a mere 2 mins per call, and assuming BT standard charges (6p+2p/min) that's £1663.20 in call revenue in one month.  Just short of £20K per year at current rates. (£17.3K using the 173,000 calls figure.)  And the cops are paying a further £2K on top to operate the line?? Somebody is making a lot of money at the public expense..

See Police call management, an initial review published by Audit Scotland, September 2007:

Quote:

I got a similar letter back from the ACPOS Secretariat, and I too can't decide how to respond.

I think when they were at the tendering process, 03 was certainly on the cards, and 0845 was being discouraged by COI, so I will probably reply along those lines.

Hopefully it will only take a few headlines in the Scottish media about the various forces introducing chargeable/costly/rip-off phone lines before this whole thing is put on hold, and something like  "03000 999 999" is introduced. (Wishfull thinking?!)

M.

Source: Worcester News

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/wnnewslatest/display.var.1894624.0.it_costs_...

It costs too much to call the police
By Alicia Kelly

<<
VICTIMS of crime are not reporting offences because it is too expensive to telephone the police - according to two county councillors.

One called for a review of the policy of using an 0845 number after hearing that people had paid up to £8 to call officers.

Although 0845 numbers cost 2p per minute peak rate from a BT landline, their cost can be more than that for people using other phone operators and mobile networks.

West Mercia Constabulary has admitted the cost of calling the 0845 number has gone up in the 10 years since the force's non-emergency number was introduced. It says it is considering introducing a cheaper 03 number which costs the same as a local call whichever provider is used.

People phoning the 0845 number go through to one of two call management centres at Hindlip, near Worcester, or Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

The force uses the income it generates from the 0845 number to maintain an emergency text messaging service.

Councillor Nigel Knowles, who raised the issue at a council meeting, said: "People are being very reluctant to ring up and report crime. It's very costly, particularly if they are on a mobile phone."

Mr Knowles also said people had told him they were being kept waiting on the end of a phone for half-an-hour and said a more direct way for people to contact local police officers or beat managers was needed.

Coun Tom McDonald called for a review of the number's use.

A police spokeswoman said: "We are aware that the cost of calling the non-emergency number has increased since it was first introduced and we are currently looking at introducing a new number, which will cost the same as making a local call.

"The number generates a small income that is used to maintain an emergency text messaging service so that people who are partially or profoundly deaf or who have speech impairments can contact the police more easily in an emergency."

Coun Edward Sheldon, who liaises with the force, will ask the chief constable to make a written reply.

Anyone wishing to call police can use 999 for emergencies, 08457 444 888 for non-emergencies, or call a local number to leave a voicemail for local policing teams who will reply within five days. A list of numbers is available at www.westmercia.police.uk

>>