In case you haven’t heard of this already please take 5 minutes to read this information from Women’s Aid about how to alert the police when making a 999 call if you are unable to speak, see below and attached poster. Please share with colleagues and people at risk.
Domestic abuse does not simply end when the relationship does.
Two in five survivors will experience stalking and harassment from their partner or ex-partner.*
A 999 call to the police can be a matter of life or death. Yet for some women it is too dangerous for them to speak to the police, for fear that their abuser will carry out their threats to hurt or even kill them if they do so.
Kerry Power was one such woman too frightened to speak to the police but dialled 999 because she desperately needed help.
Kerry made a silent 999 call when her abusive ex-partner broke into her home.
If she had known how to use the Silent Solution system to alert the police that it was a genuine call, they could have responded.
By the time the police were alerted, Kerry’s ex-partner had strangled her to death.
This National Stalking Awareness Week, we’re working with the Independent Office for Police Conduct on our ‘Make Yourself Heard’ campaign to raise awareness about how to safely dial 999 when it is too dangerous to speak.
A silent 999 call on its own will not bring police assistance.
By using the Silent Solution system, you can make a 999 call without having to speak by listening and responding to the call handler by either:
• coughing
• tapping the keys
• or pressing 55 when prompted by the automated Silent Solution system
This will alert the police that it is a genuine 999 call and that you need urgent help.
Join us this National Stalking Awareness Week to raise awareness about how survivors can make themselves heard and safely dial 999 by sharing our graphic with the hashtag #MakeYourselfHeard. It could save lives.
Share the #MakeYourselfHeard Campaign *From a sample of 18,895 women. Statistic from Women’s Aid’s The Domestic Abuse Report 2019: The Annual Audit