IT’S hard to believe that it’s 75 years since police 999 calls were brought in.

The very first one was from a Hampstead man who heard someone outside his home in the early hours. Patrol cars raced to the spot and four minutes later a man was detained.

How different it all is today as our cash-strapped police force does its best to cope with the daily flood of calls, is plagued by anti-social behaviour from our communities and by numpties who insist on calling 999 when their cat playing with a piece of string is “doing my head in.”