Police control rooms deal with hundreds of hoax or inappropriate calls Credit: ITV News Anglia
Essex police has launched a campaign to stop the number of time-wasting calls they get to the 999 service.
Called 'More Time to Fight Crime', police want to remind people to think before they call 999.
In one phone call, a man uses the 999 service to complain that there is a rat in his house, another person called up to swear at police.
Click below to listen to a couple of inappropriate calls to Essex police.
The campaign is also raising awareness about what is a police matter and knowing how to report non-emergency crime.
Social media will also be used to help people report non-emergency crime online.
A new interactive online game also gives players the chance to decide how police should react to real-life incidents and there'll be 24-hour 'tweetathons' about the day in the life of the force. It will show the amount of time police have to spend dealing with incidents where no crime has been committed.
