G7MZH wrote on Jan 12
th, 2012 at 11:01pm:
Quote:And what does 101 cost or does it depend on your telco?
15p per call, regardless of length. I believe this is the same from any telephone company, including mobiles. (How it works in phone boxes, with their humungous minimum charge, I don't know).
The Home Office believes that
every telephone company is committed to the 15p per call agreement. There has been a problem with Telefonica (o2 and BeUnlimited) but this is being sorted - I am told that as it may take some time to adjust the tariff, calls to 101 will be free of charge for the time being.
I believe that resolution of the Telefonica problem was initially triggered by a report in this forum. I am sure that the Home Office officials will be pleased to receive other reports of exceptions and will seek to resolve them, as I understand that they have in this case.
BT public payphones offer calls to 101 at no charge. If other payphone operators are found to charge more than 15p per call, I am sure that the Home Office would be pleased to address this.
G7MZH wrote on Jan 12
th, 2012 at 11:01pm:
Quote:Also 101 can't be used if you are calling from outside Surrey even though you may have experienced a crime there.
The system gives you the option of being connected to the local force, or choosing another if yu're out of area.
Calls to 101 will, like 999, 111 and many other services, always connect you to the service local to where you are calling from (be it from a landline or mobile). With 101, there is the option of being redirected, as already stated.
Surrey, as should all other Police services, offer a direct geographic number for direct calls from outside the area and from overseas. This number is also available to be used as an alternative by callers within Surrey.
We may believe that the Home Office should have put up the money to make 101 calls free of charge, but apart from this it is very hard to criticise the telephone arrangements. There are some Police services which have not yet complied with the Home Office guidance by publishing the geographic alternative clearly alongside 101. We hope that this failing will shortly be corrected.
There is of course much to criticise about other aspects of Police operations and policy.
I personally have an issue with the fact that the reporting of crime is treated as an "administrative" matter, as dealt with by calls to 101. Not all reporting of crime requires an emergency ("blue light") response, which is what 999 is for. I do however feel uncomfortable with the fact that it is regarded as sufficiently insignificant so as not to justify public expenditure on a free to caller number.