Police were successfully able to track down a bus and save a woman after she called the emergency services under the guise of ordering pizza. One quick call handler was able to gauge her trouble and asked her questions in 'yes or no.' Meanwhile, the police tracked her bus online and were able to stop it in time.
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North Yorkshire Police has arrested a man after a woman alerted the emergency services by calling 999 pretending to order pizza.
Police confirmed that they received a call from the woman who appeared to be in distress and acted like she was ordering food. However, a quick thinker handler was able to gauge her situation and understand that she was in trouble.
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The handler asked the woman questions, to which she responded 'yes.' Thus, the handler was able to receive information from her by asking questions with either yes or no.
The police force said that from her answers, as well as by texting with the woman, they were able to establish that she was at risk of being harmed by a man she was traveling on a bus with.
Police immediately got into action and used an online tracker to locate the bus and immensely officials set out to the scene and were able to stop the bus in the York area.
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Following the incident, a 40-year old Leeds man was arrested before being released with no further action.
In a statement, North Yorkshire Police said the woman had been provided with safeguarding services and support following the incident.
"This was really good work by everyone involved, allowing us to take immediate action to safeguard a vulnerable woman," said Inspector Dan Spence, Force Incident Manager in North Yorkshire Police’s Control Room.
"I’m aware of people using the ‘pizza ordering’ technique abroad to contact the police, but I cannot recall a similar call in North Yorkshire.
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Police have been alerted in the past through similar incidents where they receive calls n the guise of ordering food and people alerting officials about they are in danger. For example, one case happened back in 2019 where a domestic abuse victim called the police by pretending to order a pizza.
Even though some of these social media posts show that the dispatchers are trained well to handle such situations, emergency service call handlers have stressed that this is not the case.
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Back in 2018, Christopher Carver, the dispatch centre operations director for the National Emergency Number Association in the US, warned people against trying to use secret phrases to contact police, saying 'setting any expectations of secret phrases that will work with any 911 centre is potentially very dangerous.
North Yorkshire Police have shared that there are certain protocols for call handlers when they are dealing with callers who are unable to reveal much information on call.
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They said: "If no service is requested but anything suspicious is heard throughout the process, the operator will connect you to a police call handler.
"It is always best to speak to the operator if you can, even by whispering. You may also be asked to cough or tap the keys on your phone in response to questions."
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