999: What's Your Emergency?

A recent study determined that a mother is the single most powerful factor in determining what kind of man her son will grow up to be. But with hundreds of offences committed by sons against their mothers, and mothers against their sons, in Wiltshire each year, the police regularly see the impact of mother/son relationship breakdowns on families and on wider society.

Wiltshire police have seen a 63% increase in offences by women. Over just four years, they've had a 128% increase in 999 calls about women involved in incidents of violence. The number of women arrested for drugs offences has more than doubled and there's been a 40% rise in the number of arrests of girls under eighteen.

"I just rang a minute ago, my mate's in a bad way as well. He might have been stabbed as well." In the early hours of Sunday morning a call handler in the South Western Ambulance service 999 control room receives a report that two people have been stabbed in the street by a total stranger.

What are the prospects for breaking the cycle of crime passing from one generation to the next? "A lot of our calls are the same families, brothers and sisters, mothers and sons, mothers and daughters, and you often think to yourself 'I wonder what it is now'" says Rachel Woodbridge.

Police are called to assist a mother whose autistic son is attacking her. "When Jayden turns ten he'll be at the age of criminal responsibility" she says, "which absolutely petrifies me, because he will be arrested, and he will get a criminal record." A young man with Down's Syndrome who regularly gives his carers the slip is being disorderly in a local pub.

Unarmed police officers are called to the scene of a Sunday League football match where a disgruntled player is brandishing an axe. In the early hours of Sunday morning all available units are scrambled to assist an injured officer at a mass pub brawl.

There have been seismic changes in the frequency of crimes involving theft and stealing in recent times. Shoplifting has risen over 30% in the last 10 years.

Officers are involved in a high-speed pursuit of a suspected joy-ridden car which nearly ends in disaster.

Our ambulance service is at greater pressure today than at any time since its inception, and we're waiting longer for ambulances than ever before. From call receivers to front-line medics, everyone's feeling the heat: in the last four years, the number of calls to the service has leapt by 30% when the number of crews has risen by just 2%.

An ambulance crew is despatched to a rural area where a man has chopped through his foot with an axe while cutting firewood. The patient, John, is an amputee because of a biking accident, but despite this second incident remains undeterred.

This episode explores the rising use of cannabis which is now increasingly being smoked openly on the county's streets as people's attitude to use of the class B drug changes fast. 999 call handler Holly Goodall explains "there is a split between society seeing as cannabis being a good thing and cannabis as being a really bad thing". This shifting attitude is especially evident amongst the young.

Police officers are called to a residential estate in Swindon where neighbours have reported consistent antisocial behaviour. They are confronted with Tracey, an aggressive and combustible woman who lives alone and is brought in on a drunk and disorderly charge. But once in custody officers see another side to her personality.

In Warminster PC Phil Bridge, South Western Ambulance Service and Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service are called to a Road Traffic Collision involving three cars which has left one victim with life changing injuries. The 75 year old man responsible for the crash has suffered a suspected heart attack at the wheel. It's his second heart attack in 7 months.

Wiltshire Police call-handler Amanda Southey and her colleagues are bombarded with 999 calls every three seconds from a man claiming he is the Archangel Michael. Despite their attempts to help, eventually all they can do is send an officer to arrest him to keep the lines free for life and death emergencies.

In Swindon, PC Dan Travers is sent to deal with reports from a concerned resident regarding a homeless man sitting on her wall. On arrival the man is intoxicated, but with no crime committed Dan is powerless to help either party.

In Swindon, a 24 year old soldier in basic training is arrested and brought into custody on suspicion of carrying out a totally unprovoked attack on a 76-year-old widower.

The sexual allegations against Harvey Weinstein have revealed that women are still suffering in silence when it comes to sex attacks at the hands of men. But it's not just powerful movie producers who are solely responsible. This episode reveals how in Wiltshire crimes driven by sex and sexual desire remain stubbornly high with women being targeted by predatory males.

This episode explores what it's like for parents bringing up children in Wiltshire in 2017 and the difficulties in deciding just how much freedom is safe to give young people in the modern world.

In Wiltshire PC's John Miller and Hannah Agate pursue and catch two men who have threatened to kill someone they believe has attacked someone they know, despite no evidence to support their claim.

Having policed the streets of Swindon for over 10 years, PC Joe Tomkinson has witnessed this rise first hand: 'I think the general public, in truth, are oblivious to what is going on, and the face of drug use is changing. We've got people out there dealing drugs in their young teens that are riding push bikes because they aren't old enough to drive.

The second episode of the series examines the stories behind the calls and crimes, exploring why so many of the country's young men now seem to be struggling with a crisis of masculinity.

The timely first episode examines a dramatic rise in race hate crimes on the streets of Wiltshire since the Brexit vote in February. During the two weeks after Brexit the UK saw a 500% rise in race hate crimes.