It comes up in the news every now and again that members of the public are calling 999 for the WRONG reasons!

I received this from the Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) and I think it’s really important for us to know when to call 999, the local police station and when to call SNT.

The 999 system is for emergency calls only. Depending on the nature of the call it will usually generate a response from officers in a police car based out of South Harrow police station. The victim charter states that they should get to you within 12 minutes (unless something disastrous like the recent explosion in Stanley Road has happened and they simply run out of personnel).

This is to be called if a crime is happening now and it is serious enough to warrant an immediate police response.

Examples of this would include- fights, assaults, criminal damage, thefts, burglaries, robberies and car crime.

When to call South Harrow police station on 0208 423 1212

This is also a 24 hour line and will get you through to Harrow police station rather than the metcall switchboard.

This line is for occasions which require a police response soon but not immediately. Once again police officers would be despatched from South Harrow but they have 1 hour to try and attend rather than 12 minutes.

Examples of this would include- youths smoking drugs, noise disturbances, harassment and antisocial behaviour where it is happening now or the suspects are still present or where someone wants to report a crime that has occurred.

When to call Pinner South Safer Neighbourhood Team on 0208 721 2991

Obviously our safer neighbourhood team are not on 24 hours and we never work night shifts.
If you call us and there is no answer, leave a message and we will get back to you.

I would encourage members of the public to call us if it is a matter that does not have to be dealt with that day.

We also need to know about ongoing problems and disputes and minor incidents that may not be reported elsewhere. We would pick up any crimes reported via the above systems when we do our daily checks.

Examples of when to call us would be- ongoing harassment or abuse, ongoing noise nuisances, information relating to suspects for crimes, any general issues or anything that requires liaison with the council and anything to do with general anti-social behaviour that has already taken place.

James Bishop PS 8QA
Pinner South Safer Neighbourhood Team

http://www.heenamodi.com/2008/05/25/knowing-when-to-call-999-your-local-police-station-or-your-safer-neighbourhoods-team/

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