Prestbury man arrested after making abusive calls to Force Control Centre

A man from Prestbury has been arrested after making over ten calls to Cheshire Police's Force Control Centre and verbally abusing call handlers.

On Sunday 1st December, Cheshire Police call handers received more than ten non-emergency calls from a man who was verbally abusive towards them.

Officers subsequently traced the man to an address in Prestbury where he was subsequently arrested on suspicion of sending an offensive/indecent/menacing message over a public network.

Following his arrest, it was also found that the man had also a more than 30 calls of a similar nature to Hertfordshire Police between 20 November and 1 December.

The man has since been released on conditional bail.

Chief Inspector Daniel Reynolds, of Cheshire Constabulary's Force Control Centre, said:

“Our call handlers play a vital role in the receipt of emergency calls from the public needing our help; they are not there to be subjected to torrent of abuse from nuisance callers with nothing better to do when they should be speaking to those who are genuinely in need.

“Be under no illusion, this is a criminal offence. If you are found guilty of misusing the 101 and 999 systems, you could face a fine of up to £5,000 fine or six months imprisonment.”