Monday, December 29, 2014

Unwanted Christmas gift of stick insects prompted 999 call to police

A woman called police after her children received a container full of stick insects as a Christmas present.

Paul Richardson, deployment manager with North Yorkshire Police force control room, said: "We had a call from a woman in York who had a domestic split with her partner. He had bought the children some stick insects and a glass container, and he returned the children with the container.



"Neither of them wanted the insects, so she asked if she could bring them to the police station and leave them with us. I think she was surprised when we said 'no'. People think we have this endless resource that we can deal with any issue whatsoever. She was left with some advice about what police can and can't do."

The woman's call has prompted police to remind the public to only call in genuine emergencies. Although police initially saw the funny side of her request, Mr Richardson said there was a serious side to the call, as it took an operator away from being available to genuine emergency calls.

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