Fury as Scottish Police Federation official suggests charges for 999 calls A LEADING Police Federation official in Scotland has sparked a furious political backlash by calling for people to be charged for making emergency 999 calls in a bid to curb the number of nuisance and hoax calls. David Hamilton suggested on Twitter that it was time to make 999 a premium rate number He suggested charging 50p or 30p from mobile phones but leaving phonebox calls free The controversial suggestion sparked extensive debate David Hamilton, secretary of the Tayside branch of the Scottish Police Federation, faced the storm of protest after suggesting on Twitter that it was time to make 999 a premium rate number. Politicians across all parties united in condemning the proposal as Mr Hamilton's own force also called for the emergency number of remain a totally free lifeline service. Alison McInnes, the Scottish Liberal Democrat's justice spokeswoman, declared: "Frankly this is a ludicrous suggestion. If even one young woman or elderly person was put off seeking urgent assistance because they did not have enough credit on their phone it would be one too many. Has Mr Hamilton really lost sight of the reason for the 999 number? Tayside police have a non-emergency number and raising awareness of that is surely the sensible way to reduce unnecessary 999 calls. David McLetchie, the Scottish Conservative's Justice spokesman, said: "We certainly don't want to discourage people from reporting crimes to the police, or incidents to any other emergency service. But that's what this proposal would do. Unfortunately nuisance calls are part and parcel of dealing with emergencies, and even if only a small proportion of calls lead to the detection of a crime, who is to say that's not worthwhile? Lewis Macdonald, Labour's spokesman on Justice, also attacked the proposal. He said: "Hoax and unnecessary calls to our emergency services are foolish, life-threatening and frustrating for those who have to answer them. But charging people 50p a time isn't the answer. He continued: "Someone in danger shouldn't need to worry about whether they have enough credit to speak to the emergency services. What's more, these calls are free in all EU countries, so we need to look at how we can prevent nuisance calls, rather than try to stop people calling in the first place. Let's educate people about the consequences of making unnecessary 999 calls and, where someone makes nuisance calls, then the strongest measures should be taken against them. Victim Support Scotland, the charity dedicated to helping people affected by crime, also voiced concerns about the controversial proposal. A spokesman for the charity said: "It would be a tragedy if even one genuine caller was put off calling because of premium rate charges. Any proposal to charge people accessing the number have to be looked at very carefully indeed. Tayside Police receives around 400,000 calls each year from members of the public of which 50,000 are 999 calls. A Tayside Police spokeswoman said: "The 999 emergency telephone number is a vital service and must remain free for every member of our communities to use. There are however instances when the 999 system is inappropriately used and we are addressing this by educating the public on its use. This coupled with the introduction of the single non-emergency number "101" in the coming months should make it easier for the public to contact the police in the most appropriate way." Calum Steele, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation declined to comment on the proposal by the Tayside branch secretary . Mr Hamilton had tweeted: "Maybe time to make 999 a premium rate number? If a genuine emergency you'd spend 50p to report it. Phoneboxes exempt. He could not be contacted for comment today but posted: "Question re charging for 999 calls kicking up media frenzy. For clarity I haven't proposed anything. Inappropriate 999s a UK problem. Mr Hamilton said today: "There are a finite number of 999 lines and when you phone a 999 line you get a premium service. Operators will focus all their attention on those calls which you would expect as a member of the public. The problem comes when people are using those for calls which are not emergencies and these operators and resources are tied up dealing with that. So we want to try and cut that down.