Cal 999 for this?

[stewey]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...land-bristol-20248535

If I were to to call 911 in a situation such as this I would get a a hard verbal "slap on the wrist". Surely 999 should be reserved for "serious" situations. I realize that "serious" is quite a vague word: but, the theft of bikes? Is it normal in the UK to call 999 for such, if I may use the word, trivia?

[stewey]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...land-bristol-20248535

[hc4361]

If you witness a crime taking place, you should dial 999.

[SlackAlice]

It's only trivia if it's not your bike. You would be quite happy if someone stole something of yours, whilst everybody else watched and turned a blind eye?

Some of those bikes cost a lot of money, mine would cost about £350 to replace.

[jackthehat]

On the one hand, we are constantly told that '999 calls' should only be made when there is a danger to life and limb........and then urged to dial 999 in cases such as this.

It's no wonder things like this go unreported.

Perhaps if there were more bobbies on the beat, the people who witnessed these 'thefts' would have more effort to make a report to them.

[FredPuli43]

Theft is an indictable offence. The police want us to use 999, as apparent from the link, to report any crime properly so called; parking on a single yellow line in the wrong hours might not qualify!

We have a secondary number for other police business.

[stewey]

Interesting answers. If I called 911 to report bicycle theft, I would be told to use an alternate number; however, the use of 911 to report an actual automobile theft or a store robbery taking place would be considered proper usage of the emergency number.

[craft1948]

I think they're introducing 101 for non-urgent crime reports.

[askyourgran]

I'd heard it was to be 101 as well, bit confusing for everyone who is used to the old 999

[Eve]

101 is in use, in certain areas at least - I phoned it earlier in fact for the first time! There was a man staggering about and falling over (extremely drunk!) heading towards a very busy area of the city with busy main roads, a major bus terminal and tram lines in the dark round rush hour. I worried he was a danger to himself and others so called 101 and was put through to the local police. As I was talking to the operator he started off again towards a very busy traffic area so I followed at a distance - must have sounded quite comical in some ways to the operator (he's down, he's up and off again...he's down again...etc...) and ended up pulling him out the way of some oncoming buses as he fell back into the road (lucky I was behind him keeping an eye!). He then fell over again (into a group of people) and I managed to keep him there before some very nice policemen arrived.

I felt a little bad bothering them with it but I was a lone female and he was a lot bigger than me and paralytic and a danger to himself and others. They were lovely though and said I did the right thing. Not one other person (packed as city rush hour) even stopped to ask if I needed any help or if everything was ok (obvious it wasn't though).

[hc4361]

999 when you see a bike being stolen before your very eyes!

101 if all you have is a padlock and chain cos yer bikes been nicked