MORE than one million phone calls are received by West Mercia Constabulary every year with phone companies appearing to pocket the majority of the cash generated from them.

Your Worcester News requested information about the 08 number be released under the Freedom of Information Act after councillors said crimes were going unreported because the force's non-emergency 0845 number was too expensive.

The figures reveal from April 2007 to date, the force made £4,491.45 from 653,336 calls, while in 06/07 it made £6,684.76 from 1,129,402 calls.

In 05/06 it made £5,814.79 from 1,134,446 calls.

The force spends the money on an emergency text messaging service for people who are partially or profoundly deaf or who have speech impairments.

A force spokeswoman said: "The cost of calling this number from a BT landline is around 3p a minute.

"However, charges from mobile phones do vary depending on the service provider, which unfortunately we cannot influence or change."

She said the force was considering introducing a new number which would charge users at local call rates whether they call from a landline or a mobile phone. If the force does introduce such a number - known as 03 - it will not receive any revenue from calls.

The decision to centralise the handling of all emergency and non-emergency calls was taken in 2001 to ensure the force made best use of call-handling technology and that all call-handling staff were trained to meet the needs of callers.

Callers of the 08 number reach call management centres at Hindlip, near Worcester, or Bridgnorth in Shropshire, while incidents can also be reported in person at a police station or by calling a local number and leaving a message.

However, Councillor Nigel Knowles, who raised the issue, said he was still opposed to centralised numbers.

He said: "If you've got a group of youths outside your house in Kidderminster you don't really want to be put through to Redditch via Hindlip.

"What you want to be able to do is to speak to your local beat officers and the police on the ground.

"I don't think it's as efficient as it should be if you had local numbers."

A spokeswoman for telecoms regulator Ofcom said Government guidelines say public sector bodies should not use 08 numbers without offering an alternative.

She said the new 03 numbers were ideal for police because all callers pay the same amount and the numbers can be included in mobile phone call packages, while 08 numbers generally are not.