Police 999 call centre hit by computer issues
People calling 999 to report crimes were warned they would face a 'slight delay' after the region's control room was hit by computer problems.
West Mercia Police issued the warning shortly after 11pm last night – although it has provided an update this morning saying its phones have now been fixed.
But, it is still telling the public not to report incidents through its website "due to these IT issues".
In its original post the force warned there could be a delay to answering 999 calls, and asked the public to report non-urgent issues at a later date.
It said: "We are currently experiencing IT and phone issues which are affecting calls coming into our control room.
"The public can still report an emergency via 999 but there may be a slight delay in responding.
"We would encourage anyone reporting a non-emergency not to call 101 but to do so via our website.
"If your query is not urgent and you can report at a later time/date, then please do so."
In an update shortly after 9am today the force said the issue affecting its phones had been fixed, with a statement saying: "The problem affecting our phone lines has now been resolved following some IT issues in our control room."
It added: "The public should always call us in an emergency via 999. If it is not an emergency, please dial 101.
"Unfortunately, due to these IT issues we are currently advising you not to report non-emergency incidents via our website."
The force experienced problems with its phone lines in September last year, with neighbouring forces assisting in answering 999 calls.
