London Police launch SMS service to call for help
By Sean Cooper 
posted Feb 9th 2009 12:38AM
posted Feb 9th 2009 12:38AM
The London City Police -- or Bobbies, cuz that's infinitely cuter -- has launched a new service whereby the citizenry can drop an SMS to the law in an emergency instead of calling it in. The new SMS service is replacing the typetalk and textphone systems for people with speech, and hearing difficulties. Of course, the service is open to all city residents by just SMSing 07940 500 500, leaving details of who you are, what's happening, and where. The SMS system will send out a reply as soon as the Police get your message. We think this could actually prove handy if your situation requires stealth, or you're hiding in a dumpster after being chased, or something.[Via Textually.org]
Funny pic, I'll give you that.
Sean,
Just one thing: The service is to be used in NON-emergency situations (as reported by Textually.org), not during emergencies as mentioned in your post. As far as I am aware, carriers are not guaranteeing SMS delivery times. So, it wouldn't do any good if the text for help reaches the police hours after the incident.
Since the article is so lacking in detail - do they mean the City of London police or the Metropolitan Police Service (which are two separate organisations).