What to do in an emergency
Advice for calling 999
We aim to answer 999 calls within 10 seconds.
We will deploy resources to emergencies immediately giving you an
estimated time of arrival, getting to you safely, and as quickly as
possible. We will always aim to get to you within 15 minutes.
When calling 999 you will be answered by a telephone exchange
operator who will ask you which emergency service you require. Stay
on the line and you will be connected to the Cheshire Police
control room.
If you have used the ‘withhold number’ facility, your telephone
number will be displayed to the telephone exchange operator. This
safety feature is to enable us to establish an approximate location
of the emergency should the call get disconnected.
When you are connected to the Police Control Operator they will
ask you a series of questions in order to deploy resources.
Whilst they are speaking to you, they will also be giving the
information to the officers and other emergency services that will
be on their way to help you.
Try not to panic and don’t speak too quickly; answer the
questions as calmly and clearly as you can.
You can also contact the emergency services using the number
112, the single emergency number for countries in the European
Union.
Visit our Call Management page
to see how we meet targets for answering calls.
Making observations in an emergency
In the event of a crime it is essential for police to gather as
much information as possible on suspects, such as:
- If there is a vehicle involved take the registration
number, make, model and
colour if possible.
- Remember the direction the vehicle is
travelling.
- Make a note of how many people are involved
and a description of each person.
- How tall? What they are wearing? Their age? Did they have any
significant markings like a tattoo or a scar?
If you have been involved in a road collision,
after ensuring everyone involved is safe and have received medical
attention if required, swap personal details for
insurance, make a note of all the vehicles
involved. The Police will usually help with this and may
take a statement from you.
Type Talk
Important numbers
To make a call dial 18001 + number
Emergency calls dial 18000
What is Type Talk?
Typetalk is a national telephone relay service for
deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind and speech-impaired people.
It allows deaf and hard of hearing people to use a textphone to
access any services that are available on standard telephone
systems.
Typetalk provides a link between any textphone user and a
hearing person. They are linked by an operator who is highly
trained and fully complies with confidentiality.
If you are deaf, all you will need is a text phone. Dial
18001 followed by the full telephone number from
your textphone. If the call is answered by a hearing person, a
Typetalk operator is brought into the call. If the call is answered
by another textphone user, the connection is direct with no
Typetalk operator.
The textphone user types and the Typetalk operator will
read what is typed to the hearing person.
For more typetalk information visit www.textrelay.org.