North Wales Police Encourage the Public to think about ‘Pocket Dialling’

North Wales Police are encouraging the public to check their phone settings to avoid making accidental emergency calls.

Following a recent increase in “silent 999 calls” North Wales Police are urging the public to check the “emergency call” settings on their mobile phones to avoid unnecessary calls to their Force Control Centre.

“Silent 999 calls” are emergency calls where no one can be heard talking and may have been made by accident by ‘pocket dialling’. These calls can take up a lot of time for staff to contact the caller back to make sure help isn’t needed.

Chief Inspector Jon Aspinall said “The number of accidental 999 calls we are experiencing has increased significantly. I would encourage everyone to check their emergency settings on their mobile handsets and change them to prevent further accidental calls to the emergency services.

We are working closely with mobile phone providers to resolve this situation but in the meantime a change of your settings will ensure you are not accidentally calling 999. If you have any issues in changing your settings, please contact your handset, network provider, or use an internet search to identify how to change the settings for your particular handset.

Our priority is to provide an immediate service to those most in need and would encourage you to follow this guidance and share with your family and friends so we can provide the best service possible to those in need in a genuine emergency.”

Here are some other tips you can use to avoid accidental 999 calls:

• Keep your phone out of reach of children
• Lock your phone before putting it in your pocket or bag

If you do find that your phone has dialled 999 by accident, please do speak with the call handler to inform them that the call was made by mistake and that help isn’t required.