Officers invite registrations for innovative 999 text service

Emergency SMS is part of the standard 999 service and has been designed specifically for people who cannot make voice calls.

After successful trials nationally the service is now being offered by Humberside Police – but only people who have registered can use it.

To sign up, text “register” to 999 then follow the instructions sent in reply.

As with conventional 999 calls, the service should only be used in a genuine emergency.

Command centre operations manager Andrew Globe said: “Humberside is one of the top three forces in the country for call handling and we are always pro-active in looking for new initiatives such as this to further enhance the service we deliver to the public.

“It is important to us that we provide a high standard of service to all and this service is an excellent communications tool.”

The service works throughout the UK on all mobile networks but cannot be used from abroad.

To call for help, text 999, say which service is needed – police, fire, ambulance or coastguard – state briefly what the problem is, and give a location as accurately as possible, such as the name of the road, house number, postcode or nearby landmark.

The operator will then either ask for more information or say that help is on its way.

People should not assume the message has been received until they have had a reply, which will normally be sent within two minutes. They should text again if they have not had a reply within three minutes, or try other ways of getting help.

Hundreds of calls for service have been made during the trials, resulting in criminals being arrested, lives being saved and babies being born safely.

Hate crime and diverse community co-ordinator Stephen Mirfin said: “The introduction of the Emergency SMS system is a very positive step forward for Humberside Police as it will enable members of public who suffer from impaired hearing and other associated conditions to access our services via text messaging when they need us the most.

“Emergency SMS enables members of the public who cannot use the emergency telephone number to sign up and simply text 999 to access which ever service is required should the need arise ensuring that help is sent as soon as possible.

“Nationally, this system has proved very successful and is known to have saved lives so it is to be hoped that it has the same positive impact for the emergency services in our area.”

The service complements other systems already in place to help people contact the police if they find it difficult to call.

The Minicom system allows people to “type-talk” by typing messages on to a screen in a similar way to an email conversation. Text Relay allows the caller to type what they want to say to an operator, who then speaks to the person they are calling, similar to a conference call.

In the last financial year, Humberside Police has answered 97.1 per cent of 999 calls within three seconds – well ahead of its target of 10 seconds.

The police also answered 90 per cent of non-emergency calls within 20 seconds, in line with their target.

The service also received 138,775 emergency calls and 243,933 non-emergency calls.

It also has translators available 24 hours a day to take part in conference calls if required.

The most requested languages – in order of use – were Polish, Russian, Romanian, Mandarin, Turkish, Slovak, Arabic, Czech, Farsi, Pashtu, Bulgarian and Urdu, they revealed.

Helen Chapman, call handling and performance manager, said: “We are trying to make it easy for everybody to contact us so we can offer them a quality service.”