Should people who call the police for stupid reasons be punished?

[Vicky.]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/police-called-woman-sees-kittens-having-sex-her-235413733.html

Another ****ing idiot here^

So many stories of people ringing for ridiculous things.

I think attaching a fine to silly calls might stop the amount of twats who ring for things like this...

[King Gizzard]

If there was a national ad campaign that there were going to be fines introduced for stupid calls then I would go along with that

[Josy]

Idiot.

And yeah a fine would be a good idea in cases like this.

[MTVN]

Doesn't this sort of stuff just fall under 'wasting police time' though which you can already be fined or worse for

[Josy]

Doesn't this sort of stuff just fall under 'wasting police time' though which you can already be fined or worse for

I think you can be charged for wasting police time yeah but these people are calling the emergency lines for idiotic reasons and probably prolonging response times to actual emergencies so if there was a fixed on the spot penalty for doing it some would maybe think twice about it.

[joeysteele]

Yes but with caution, for instance if someone is ill or has a mental health issue. The example above is ridiculous but sometimes in genuine panic people can do daft things and the wrong things though not intentionally.

I know someone who suffers from the fear of open spaces,who when out on their own shut themself in a phone box and rang the police for help.
999 is an easy number to remember but I agree also to abuse too.

[honeydew]

Of course they should, wasting valuable police time etc, bad enough already with decline of the police force, they should get a caution, serves them bloody right...:devil:

[Jesus.]

Not really. If someone goes out of their way to send police on a wild goose chase, then by all means punish them. But stupidity shouldn't be an offence punishable by law, otherwise the internet would be empty.

The last thing we want is to make people think about whether or not they will be prosecuted for calling 999.

[Vicky.]

Not really. If someone goes out of their way to send police on a wild goose chase, then by all means punish them. But stupidity shouldn't be an offence punishable by law, otherwise the internet would be empty.

The last thing we want is to make people think about whether or not they will be prosecuted for calling 999.

Well normal people wouldnt think about that though, as they would only call the police for a genuine reason. I doubt many would think to call the police because they dropped a carrot on the floor, or because there was a kitten in their yard

[Roy Mars III]

There should be a 3 strikes (or so) and then fine system. Give them a few warnings but if they continue to make stupid calls for the police then fine them.

There was a lady not too long ago who called the police because Burger King did not give her the the right amount of chicken nuggets.

[arista]

Yes Charge them