City of London Police Accepting SMS Requests for Help

The police force covering the UK's City of London has launched an SMS service, which will allow people in the City to use their mobile phones to contact the police in non-emergency situations. The SMS service is aimed mainly at people that have hearing or speech impediments but it is available to all City residents.

The new service will replace the existing typetalk and textphone services.

Chief Inspector Anthony Cairney said: "We hope that people will find this service useful, particularly those who have hearing or speech difficulties. People should find it a lot easier to use than typetalk and textphone services."

To use the service, people simply send a text message to 07940 500 500 clearly identifying their name, location, where the incident is taking place and brief details of what is happening. When the police have received the message, the user will receive a confirmation text.

Posted to the site on 6th February 2009