File:101 Non-Emergency Number - Wooden Door (8264640966).jpg

This 101 was sent to us by Ivan Smith on Twitter. It shows hotel door number 101.

Now we are asking YOU to submit your own 101 images into our special competition!

The 101 number is a national service launched by the Home Office designed to create a memorable number for people to call regarding non-emergency crime and anti-social behaviour.

To help reinforce the number, West Midlands Police is launching a competition encouraging people to take photographs or draw pictures of the number 101 seen during their day and send them to the force.

Photographs and pictures could include house numbers, part of a bar code, or anything else that looks like a 101, such as two pens and a cup of tea seen from above.

There will be three age categories for the competition – 11 years and under, 12 to 17 year-olds and 18 plus.

A judging panel will award a prize for each category and will include the force photographer, Head of Corporate Communications and Head of Force Contact.

The 18 and under winners will be given a £20 book voucher and the over 18 category will be given a £20 music voucher.

The winners’ photos will be published on the force website and will be used in future marketing materials for 101 across the West Midlands.

People can email their photographs or pictures to birmingham_comms@west-midlands.police.uk or post them on Twitter with the hashtag #wmp101 or post them to the Corporate Communications department at Lloyd House, Colmore Circus, Queensway, Birmingham B4 6NQ. Entrants should include their age and contact details.

The closing date for the competition is Monday 31 December and the winners will be announced in January.

In addition to the overall winners’ prize, a selection of the best photographs/pictures will by put into albums on the West Midlands Police Flickr and West Midlands Police Facebook sites and retweeted and used in marketing materials to promote 101.

The launch last year was part of a national programme to be a memorable number the public could call to access their local police in times where they do not require an urgent response.

101 calls are handled by the Force Contact department based on 12 sites across the West Midlands. Force Contact also answer all of the emergency 999 calls.

The head of Force Contact, Chief Superintendent Jim Andronov, said: “Since it launched over 180,000 people have called 101 in the West Midlands, which has eased pressure on the 999 system.

“However, more work needs to be done to make the number as second nature to call for the public as 999 currently is.

“This photo/picture project is an interesting way of getting the public to think about the number. I would encourage everyone to look for the 101 in their day and share their photos with us.

“The message from us is simple, if it’s not an emergency call us on 101. It relieves the pressure on the 999 system, which should only be used in an emergency, such as when life is in danger or there is a crime in progress.”

The 101 number should be used to report a crime or anti-social behaviour which does not need an emergency response. For example, it could be used to report a crime that has already happened, seek crime prevention advice or make police aware of local policing issues.

In an emergency, members of the public should continue to use 999.