The Force Control Room is the first point of contact when you call us for assistance or to access services.
All 999 and 101 calls come through one central room based at our Hutton Headquarters where they are answered by specially trained Police Control Room Operators (PCRO)
On average we receive over 3,000 calls every day. 500 of these can typically be 999 emergency calls, although the figure can be as high as 1,000 during busy public and school holiday periods.
We estimate that 1 in 5 of the 999 calls we receive don’t actually involve an emergency incident so we are doing a lot of work to encourage our callers to use the 999 service as its intended.
101 and 999 
All calls made to our 101 number are answered by PCROs who ascertain the nature of the call before directing it to the appropriate person for it to be dealt with effectively.
In the case of 999 calls for serious or on-going incidents, the call will again be dealt with by a PCRO and officers will be deployed if necessary.
There is always a police inspector, known as the Force Incident Manager (FIM), on duty within the control room overseeing incidents with overall operational responsibility.
What does a PCRO do?
As we are an emergency service offering a round the clock call handling provision, PCROs work various shifts to ensure we can respond to your calls any time of the day or night. Their duties are:
- Receiving calls
- Dispatching police resources to reported incidents
- Monitoring radio communications and requests from officers
- Recording details of incidents on the STORM system
- Monitoring Police National Computer (PNC) broadcast messages and road traffic information
Call us
In an emergency, where life is in danger or a crime is in progress, call 999.
For non-emergency calls and general enquiries contact us on 101 or lancashire.police.uk/reportonline to report crime, report a lost or found property, speak to an officer and submit complaints.
Contacting us from outside Lancashire - Simply call 101, listen to the message then select the option to choose another police force. If Lancashire Police is not on the automated list, please choose the option to speak to an operator who will be able to transfer you through to us.
Contacting us if you can't access 101 — Some business switchboards block 101, so you contact us by alternatively calling 01772 614444.
Be aware that by calling either of these numbers from some pre-pay mobile phones can be expensive so we would recommend you use 101 if possible as it's completely free, no matter how long your call lasts.
Contacting us from outside the UK — Dial (+44) 1772 614444