WARRINGTON will once again take centre stage in this week’s episode of 999: What’s Your Emergency.
This programme explores the trials and tribulations of coming of age in Britain in 2016, and the challenges the emergency services face in dealing with people in the legal and social hinterland between childhood and adulthood.
PC Ruth Stott is called to attend a group of teenagers after 999 calls from intimidated local homeowners.
“They do use that kind of language like ‘bro’ and ‘bruv’ and all that kind of thing,” says PC Stott.
“You just think, who are you trying to be? You’re a 15-year-old kid from Warrington.”
Meanwhile in Crewe, PCs Bryony Hancock and Charlotte Wilson are called to intervene in a case of alleged online bullying.
PC Hancock explains how bullying has escalated from the playground to online platforms.
“Bullying obviously used to be playground stuff – name calling, writing on walls, but now it’s all on social media as well,” she says.
“And the problem is it’s not just between the bully and the victim, everyone’s talking about it, it’s 24/7.”
Although, the people the police are dealing with are young, not all of their offences are minor. The police are receiving a worrying number of calls from parents being attacked by their own children.
The emergency services also encounter other children who are at the other end of the spectrum – some are vulnerable, while others are having to take on responsibilities for parents who are ill or struggling to cope.
The brand new series of 999: What’s Your Emergency? focuses on the work of police and paramedics in Cheshire.
The series follows incidents from the moment the 999 call is made to the arrival of the frontline police and paramedics – the hard-working men and women who protect us from ourselves and each other while seeing us as we really are.
They talk with honesty and wit about the ever-increasing challenges of modern Britain.
This week’s episode is on Thursday 1 September, Channel 4 at 9pm.
