Local MSP Comments on Police 999 Statistics

Commenting on reports in a regional newspaper that 1.9% of 999 calls made to Police Scotland in the Grampian area over a 12 month period were screened out and did not receive police attendance, local MSP Stewart Stevenson said:

"What these figures actually reveal is that the local police receive nearly 600 '999' calls every week and less than a dozen of those are hoax calls or malicious intent or some other reason which results in the call being filtered out and police attendance deemed unnecessary.

"That's still over 580 calls each and every week where our local police provide an emergency response to those in genuine need. We've all heard of stories on the news where people, for a variety of reasons, call 999 when it really isn't necessary and the clear message from these figures is that people should call 101 for all non-emergencies."