Gotten mugged? Hope you still have loose change.

[narnee]

Home Office proposes calls to police on new non-emergency number cost flat-rate of 10p

If the plan of making citizens pay to report low-level crime to the 101 number occurs, I expect recorded instances will be at an all-time low. Not that having lower crime figures would be beneficial to Home Secretary Charles Clarke, of course.

Comments

[winsey]

I'd say good luck finding a phone box in the first place. I don't have a mobile phone so when I need to make a call outside, I wander around forever to find one. And of course, the first three I actually find are always either broken or just plain steal my money.

[karen2205]

Umm, given that the correct way to report *non-emergency* crime is via your local police station or using the online reporting system, then I think this is a good idea - a 10p call will be cheaper than a local rate call to your local police station, or the cost of pay-per-minute dial up internet access, or the opportunity cost of physically going to your local police station (eg. transport, loss of working time).

[narnee]

A 10p call is not cheaper than phoning within one's local calling area as well as most calling plans now having free local calls. Most people don't have dial-up anymore either, so it's also not cheaper than reporting the crime online.

If they're going to set up a non-emergency phoneline to report crime it should be a 0800 number.

[karen2205]

one's local calling area as well as most calling plans now having free local calls.

But the people on the lowest incomes are unlikely to be using one of these calling plans. I've deliberately avoided any of the BT Together plans that include any calls free because I don't make enough phone calls to make them worthwhile.

Most people don't have dial-up anymore either

I don't believe that - got any stats to illustrate it? I know broadband uptake is increasing, but I don't think it's at 50% of the population yet. Am willing to be corrected if I'm working with out of date information though. I believe that poorer people are more likely to be victims of crime and are also less likely to have any internet access at home.

If they're going to set up a non-emergency phoneline to report crime it should be a 0800 number.I think a non-emergency number is a very good idea 'cos it'll hopefully reduce the number of non-emergency 999 calls, freeing 999 call-takers to deal with real emergencies. I'm happy to see it as either free (presumably paid

[narnee]

But the people on the lowest incomes are unlikely to be using one of these calling plans.

Not necessarily -- if they're using CPS, many (if not most) of which are cheaper per minute than BT, then they probably have free local calls. Even if they don't, BT Together 1's local calls are 1p a minute and reporting a crime to the new number is likely to take a lot less time than ten minutes.

I don't believe that - got any stats to illustrate it?

Yup, 55.7% as of August 2005; by now it's probably at least 56-57% given the average rise per month in uptake of broadband connections.

I believe that poorer people are more likely to be victims of crime and are also less likely to have any internet access at home.

They're less likely to be able to afford to pay 10p every time they're victims of a crime as well; when one is poor, every pence counts. Also, they're less likely to be willing to "grass", especially if they have to pay for the privilege of doing so.

I'm happy to see it as either free (presumably paid for from general taxation) or

[thekumquat]

Having a line to report crime is a damn good idea seeing as we don't at the moment and lots of police stations you can't ring or get through on. Creating a number and publicing it should lead to a great *increase* in reporting.

If it's an 0800 number then the Goverment will be paying for it rather than the individual callers, and there's more likely to be people calling it frivolously - same problems as 999 currently has.

[narnee]

It's definitely a good idea. I just don't think people are going to be willing to pay to be a grass (for better or for worse); hence I don't believe that the number, if there's a charge for it, will lead to a greater increase in reporting due to that and I believe it will drop due to people who were previously willing to report not being willing to pay for the privilege. I don't think it's fair to punish everyone for the actions of a few bad apples calling such a number frivolously; better to use an enhanced system like in the US where a caller's location can be pinpointed and punish those people individually with large fines.

On a personal note, I have reported low-level crime to my local station and I probably wouldn't if it cost me 10p -- every pence counts for me right now.