Be Excellent To Each Other

Follow these on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/gmp24_1

Every call Greater Manchester police get is being tweeted, just to show people. Interesting reading. One day only.

Aw. I was hoping this was going to be a twitter stream of "Mud. Mud. Mud. Mud. Turnip! SQUEEEEE! Mud. Mud. Mud."

There's a squirrel: http://twitter.com/common_squirrel

WTF?

There's http://twitter.com/#!/gmp24_2 and http://twitter.com/#!/gmp24_3 as well.

[enter joke about comparative cuteness between northern and southern babies here]

This is fascinating

There's a lot of cars driving off without paying for petrol.

Also



which might be a legitimate gas leak worry, but in my head is just someone breaking wind and then denying it was them.

The police clearly need to go ex-directory to avoid getting all these nuisance calls.

Seriously though the amount of silent 999 calls that have to be followed up is a bit perturbing.

Dialing 999, hitting the phone against the wall and then hanging up is one of the fastest ways to get the police to your door, apparently.

It's a Labrador!

No, it's a golden retriever!

I'm telling!



Jesus, you'd prefer them to litter? It's a bin, that's what it's for.

God, the police have to deal with some crap.







and it's all go in Atherton!

Been there, done that. Client/resident comes into office "I need to use the phone to call about my benefits, I've not been paid again"

Me - "fine, off you go then, 9 for an outside line"

<client dials>

"Yeah, what it is, right.... I've not had me benefits and I've got no money and I need them and I've called and been in but they're just fucking me about"

<...silence....client is listening.....and then.....>

"WELL THIS IS A FUCKIN EMERGENCY. I'VE GOT NO FUCKING FOOD. I'M SUPPOSED TO BE GOING TO VISIT ME SON TODAY AND I'VE GOT NO FUCKIN MONEY. WHY WON'T YOU FUCKIN HELP ME, IT IIIIIIIS AN EMEEEEEERGENCY"

<slam>

What usually happens then is you spend the next three hours arranging an emergency crisis loan of £20 for the client, who immediately goes round the corner spends it on two bags of smack.

I can't wait until I get another support work job

/edit although not now living in Wales, I pray the people I'll be working with up here don't begin every conversation, telephone or in person regarding anything official with "yeah, what it is, right...".

When Carys was a baby, she used to regularly play with the phone. She was never unsupervised for more than a moment at a time so we usually just took the phone off her as soon as she picked it up. Early one morning I put the handset back in the cradle after she'd picked it up, pressed some random buttons and dropped the handset and started squawking for her breakfast. Within 5 minutes we had two PCs at the door asking to come in.

Does the (completely fucking stupid) "emergency call" thing on the locked menu of my Blackberry actually go to a proper 999 call centre? I've accidentally called it at least once a month and keep hanging up as soon as I notice. Should I hang on and apologise next time?

Yes, it does. It's also an OFCOM requirement that the device be able to make an emergency call while locked, though I agree that it's stupidly easy to do.

I think phones call 112, or something odd. Same end result, though.

Fuck, whoops. I assumed it was an Orange call centre.

Stupid, stupid bloody requirement.

Both end up in the same place. 112 is standard across Europe, which makes sense

Not that I want to, but how do you make an emergency call with the Desire when the screen is locked?

Bad smell man is on the scene.

Hit the "emergency call" button on the pattern screen.

Yes and yes.

It's not OFCOM, it's part of the GSM spec.

Not really, not in the context of the time it was written (the early 90s). The spec writers were dealing with the very real scenario where someone who has a phone collapses and someone with no phone of their own and no other means of contacting emergency services comes to their aid. Hence, they made it a requirement that all phones must be able to dial the emergency services without the user knowing the phone's unlock procedure or being able to read whatever language the phone's menu was in. Hence, they almost all let you dial 911/999/112 interchangeably, and none of them require you to unlock the phone in order to do so.

You're not even supposed to need a SIM card, every operator is supposed to allow emergency calls from a SIMless phone. That doesn't work though. I tried it once.

To my knowledge, only the iPhone doesn't comply with this (now rather outdated) requirement -- maybe Android also.

The Desire and the G1 do.

Yeah, but if you break the spec by not including the ability, who's going to tell you off?

Your mum.

Your face is breaking the spec.

I don't use the pattern screen, I use the swipe down method and there's no emergency call button on there.

Oh Dog, I remember when we had to stop calling them 'claimants' and had to refer to them as 'clients' instead. What we called them in the back office was often not repeatable.



Or worse, 'What it is, is .....' Mind you, half the staff in Openshaw UBO used to start their sentences like that in 1972 as well.

Then your phone isn't "locked" in this sense of the word.

I thought Android was open?

Caller subsequently prosecuted for bestiality in a public place.