This bank holiday weekend, Dorset Police wants to remind residents and visitors to the area should they need to contact the police and it’s not an emergency to Do lt Online.
During public and school holidays the number of people out and about, and visiting Dorset increases. This can often lead to a rise in calls to our 101 non-emergency number, which inevitably can impact on call waiting times people might experience when calling 101.
So why call when you don’t have to? By visiting our website – dorset.police.uk, anyone wishing to contact us with non-emergency queries or reports can easily do so by using our online contact methods – Report Online, Request a Call Back and AskNED, making it easier and more convenient to ask or tell us something.
Report Online – if you want to report a crime or tell the police about something that’s already happened and it’s non-urgent, report it online. Simply fill in the details on the online crime reporting form dorset.police.uk/do-it-online#report and then once submitted your information/crime report will be logged.
Request a Call Back – to request a call back from Dorset Police, just complete the details on the request a call back form selecting the time period which suits you best, then wait for us to call you.
AskNED – our online directory which provides the answers to all your non-emergency questions. Simply visit dorset.police.uk/contact-us/ask-ned-how-can-we-help enter your question, select your location and AskNED will provide you with the answer.
Alternatively queries and reports can be emailed to our 101 Email – 101@dorset.pnn.police.uk. The email will reach the Force’s command centre just the same as calling and can be used for used to report all non-emergency crime and give the police any information about crime in your area.
Jane Jennings, Head of Contact Management for Dorset Police, said: “We want people to have a good bank holiday and half-term in and around the area, and we hope they don’t need to contact us, but if they do, and it’s not an emergency we would ask them to consider using the online methods available.
“We have many online ways to contact us which are easy to use and available 24/7, meaning people can contact us at their convenience and without needing to wait on the telephone to speak to someone.
“We realise that not everyone has access to the internet and some people would prefer to speak to a person but by encouraging people to use our online methods means we can manage our demand more efficiently and prevent long waiting times for people choosing to call us.
“We would also ask people to consider whether it’s the police they actually need to contact. We receive many calls about fly tipping, stray dogs, noisy neighbours or illegally parked cars around a quarter of calls to us are for information -and many of these are not police matters and should be directed towards other agencies.
“We would encourage people to click before they call and ask themselves whether they can find the answer on our website or by using our online directory AskNED which has answers to hundreds of commonly asked questions.”
In an emergency always call 999.
