How to call police if it isn't safe to speak on the phone.

I found this out recently and thought I'd pass it on

In the UK Silent Solutions (also know as the Police Voice Response system) is an agreed protocol which decides whether or not police are dispatched to any silent emergency call. In the UK the emergency number is 999.

If you dial 999 the BT Operator will ask which emergency service you require. If there is no request, the operator will ask you to cough or make some form of indication that the call is an emergency.
If there is still no request then the call will be put through to an automated system which asks the caller to press '55' if the call is an emergency. If this is not done then the call will be terminated and police will not attend.

A police spokesman said :"Please do not think that just because you dial 999 that police will attend. We totally understand that sometimes people are unable or too afraid to talk, however it must be clear that we will not routinely attend a silent 999 call. There must be some indication that the call has not been mis-dialled."

Alternatively 112 is the pan European standard number for contacting the emergency services and runs in parallel with 999.

You can also register for Emergency SMS in the UK