Friday, 7 November 2008

As you may be aware, the Metropolitan Police has recently launched a new contact number for non-emergency scenarios, to try to reduce the number of unnecessary calls to 999.

There are a number of posters around town which are aiming to help us determine whether or not a particular situation qualifies as a genuine emergency.

If you live or work in London, you may for instance have seen this one.

Car Is Being Stolen Poster

The new number looks as though it should be quite memorable, but actually it's not at all. I challenge you to remember it confidently in an hour's time.

Reading between the lines, what the Metropolitan Police appears to be saying with this campaign is:

“Look, if something dangerous and exciting is happening right now, by all means, give us a call, otherwise, to be honest, we're not all that interested. Sorry, that's just the way it is. If you really think we should know about it (and we probably don't), maybe drop us an email in a couple of days time, or better still, just mention it next time you see us...”

I've been keeping my eye out for other posters in the same series and came across this one in Waterloo Station:

Face Is Being Punched Poster

This one was on a hoarding at the top end of Tottenham Court Road:

Someone Is Eating Your Porridge Poster

And I saw this one outside a police station near Victoria:

Love Is Being Given A Bad Name Poster

Do let me know if you see any that I might have missed...

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