Slugs, litterbugs and late takeways: Revealed - the nuisance calls police want to stamp out

That’s the message from chief constable Stephen Watson, who revealed both of these concerns have been raised with police call handlers in the past.

Mr Watson said South Yorkshire Police is planning a publicity campaign to stamp out nuisance calls.

“Someone dialled 999 to report the discovery of an unusual slug in her garden.

“This is not an argument to say all our calls are of that character.

“What we are pointing to is that there is clutterance in the system that doesn’t help. 

“If we can take that out we have a better chance of dealing with the core.”

Mr Watson said the nature of some calls to the police’s 101 or 999 hotlines was “frankly wacky” and these calls diverted resources away from dealing with genuine emergencies or crimes.

A new computerised call handling system is being installed at the force’s Atlas Court communications centre, but has been delayed due to technical problems.

The police already take 1,300 101 calls and 660 on the 999 system, many of which should be dealt with by other bodies.

“One person’s littering is another person’s anti-social behaviour, we understand that,” said Mr Watson, speaking at a meeting of police and crime commissioner Dr Alan Billings’ public accountability board.

“We get a lot of calls about graffiti, litter and fly-tipping. 

“All these are core local authority responsibilities and about which we have limited responsibility.

“We want to say to people, if there is an issue, don’t hang on 101 for 20 minutes to be disappointed. 

“This (an alternative authority) is your point of contact and this is where it will be addressed,” he said. 

Police policy is to prioritise 999 calls over those making non-urgent enquiries and Mr Watson said improvement had been recorded in getting to the most serious calls.