Police inspector: 'Life's too short' to call non-emergency 101 number

Matt Jonson, of Cambridgeshire Police, told a public meeting that he no longer advised people to use the number

(Getty)

A police inspector has admitted that trying to call the 101 non-emergency number is a waste of time.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Inspector Matt Jonson, of Cambridgeshire Police, told a public meeting that he no longer advised people to use the number, which is designed to connect non-urgent calls to any force in the country.

“Historically I’ve said call 101, but life’s too short… I’m not supposed to say that, sorry,” he said.

In 2013 more than a million calls to 101, which was introduced in 2011, were not answered and some people waited for more than an hour to get through.

Lewis Herbert, leader of Cambridge City Council, told the meeting that some council officials had given up trying to get through.

“What is failing is the whole system. But clearly because the system is failing, the job of being in the central control is so unattractive, so stressful, that they can’t retain the staff,” he said.

Sir Graham Bright, Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, admitted the service was “short staffed” but said addressing the problem was a “priority”

Mike Penning, the Policing Minister, said: “Call handling arrangements are a matter for each local force and its police and crime commissioner, in accordance with their own service standards. Calls are answered by an automated system which transfers users to the relevant local police force.”