Your responses to Northamptonshire Police in ‘999 Whats Your Emergency?’

Viewers took to social media to praise and empathise with our local police because of the shocking nature of the incidents they have to deal with in Northampton at night.
The first episode of '999 What's Your Emergency?' aired on Monday night (October 5).The first episode of '999 What's Your Emergency?' aired on Monday night (October 5).
The first episode of '999 What's Your Emergency?' aired on Monday night (October 5).

On Monday (October 5), viewers from all over the country watched our local police deal with a string of horrific incidents in the first episode of ‘999 What’s Your Emergency’, which focussed on the night-time economy in Northampton.

Incidents included a homeless man carrying a knife, an unprovoked attack during a night out, a man smashing up plates in a kebab shop and a violent outburst at the Longboat Pub in Duston, which required officers to call emergency back-up.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Last year, in Northamptonshire Police’s 999 emergency control room, call handlers received over 20,000 reports of anti-social behaviour.

In one incident, officers were called to a shop by a homeless man on Abington Street, who reported that he had been threatened by a group of people. When police questioned the group, they made a bunch of counter-allegations claiming that it was the homeless person who threatened them and he was concealing a large kitchen knife up his sleeve.

Police returned to the shop where the homeless man was taking refuge and detained him under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. The homeless person admitted to being in possession of the knife and claimed he kept it because he had been attacked many times in the past and was “scared” for his life.

He was arrested for being in the possession of an offensive weapon then found guilty of the possession of a bladed article in a public space. He received a community order, fines of £396 and deprived of the right to own a kitchen knife.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The number of convictions across Northamptonshire for carrying a knife has risen by 78 per cent in the last five years.

Many people took to Twitter to laugh at a comment made by PC Ian McDonald about the attire of local club go-ers.

One tweeted, “Classic comment here from this officer,” alongside with the video snippet of PC Ian McDonald saying: “You look around at different sites and think, well, there must be a shortage of mirrors in Northamptonshire because a lot of people hadn’t looked in one before they’d gone out.”

Another incident on Abington Street saw an unprovoked assault on two young men in Abington Street. A mother and daughter were walking behind the daughter’s partner and his male friend when two men decided they were going to lash out. One of the young men walking in front got kicked in the jaw and ended up on the floor and the other was kicked in the arm.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A response officer, who was called to the scene, had to call back-up as he attempted to diffuse the situation.

The daughter, Melissa, said: “I was just in shock. There was no motivation to do it. We do not know who these people are. Didn’t realise people could be that horrible really.”

The two men, who carried out the assault, were found guilty of common assault and ordered to pay £365 in damages.

In towns across Northamptonshire, alcohol-related night time assaults have risen by almost 49 per cent in the last three years.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Northampton Chron took to Twitter - using the hashtag #999WhatsYourEmergency - to ask viewers if they would go out to Northampton Town centre for the night life if we were not currently in the middle of a pandemic.

One person responded: “Definitely yes. I made many close friends out in the clubs and bars in town. Northampton nightlife is one of my biggest opportunities to socialise and I miss it!”

Another tweeted: There are some brilliant pubs in and around the town centre but would I venture down to the nightmare that is Bridge Street? Not a chance.”

In another incident, a customer - who refused to pay for his food - smashed 40 plates in a kebab shop and got verbally abusive. The kebab shop owners called the police and closed the shutters so the offender was blocked in. When police detained the customer and tried to question him in the back of the police car, the offender proceeded to swear and spit at officers, demanding that they close the door.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The customer voluntarily returned to the kebab shop the next day to pay for the damage he caused and no further action was taken against him.

In perhaps the most shocking incident of Monday night’s episode, police were called to the Longboat Pub in Duston because a customer - who had been previously barred from the pub - was getting aggressive and refusing to leave. He was kicking doors and smashing glasses.

When two police officers arrived and asked him to vacate the premises, the offender threw off his hat and proceeded to remove his shirt before violently resisting arrest.

In shocking scenes, the two response officers struggled to restrain him as around 30 people stood around them, recording the grapple on their phones and cheering the violent offender on. One of the officers resorted to using his pepper spray and the other had to press the emergency button to get immediate back-up.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

By the time emergency back-up had arrived, one of the two police officers first at the scene - PC Magda Zolniak - was left in tears.

PC Ash Price, who was one of the emergency back-up officers, said: “It took - what - maybe 15 police officers to remove one person from a pub. It’s ridiculous. His behaviour had such a colossal effect on all those other police officers’ commitments.”

The offender was immediately taken into custody, where he continued to be aggressive towards police. All charges against him were dropped and he was banned from the Longboat Pub for life. You can read more about the Longboat Pub incident here.When the Licensing Act came into force in 2005, this allowed pubs in England and Wales to serve alcohol 24 hours a day; this had a profound effect on policing alcohol-related incidents as they spread out into the night time.

Andrew Wrighting, a 999 call handler on the programme, said: “They genuinely believe that people dissipate at different times and it would make policing of the economy more easier. What has happened is it spreads that workload out through the entire night in a way it didn’t before.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Northampton Chron asked viewers on Twitter if they think that clubs and pubs should close earlier than they do generally to reduce incidents in the night time.

One person responded: “Either way, it’s going to happen. Years ago, when I went out, pubs shut at 11ish and clubs at 2am and people just got tanked up before. It’s the psyche of these imbeciles who don’t know their limits.”

Another replied: “Yes. When I was out at 18, pubs shut at 11 and clubs by 2am. Home and tucked up in bed by 2:30am - unless I have rose tinted glasses on, there wasn’t half the trouble there is now.”

Since filming this episode of ‘999 What’s Your Emergency?’ in 2019, Northamptonshire police have deployed 10 extra police officers to tackle anti-social behaviour and crime in Northampton Town centre.

If you missed this episode, you can watch it on Channel 4 on Demand.