999: What's Your Emergency?

This episode focuses on the five per cent of the UK's families who are collectively responsible for a staggering amount of the nation's crime: 50 per cent of criminal arrests. In these cases the 'tradition' of crime within a family means that police see extremes of criminality across a wide age range, costing the UK £9 billion a year.

This episode focuses on the five per cent of the UK's families who are collectively responsible for a staggering amount of the nation's crime: 50 per cent of criminal arrests. In these cases the 'tradition' of crime within a family means that police see extremes of criminality across a wide age range, costing the UK £9 billion a year. 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. 'You know that when you hear a certain name, it's not going to be good.' Police are dispatched to apprehend a drunk young man outside a nightclub. Some members of his family have amassed 193 arrests and 111 convictions between them.

In the UK the number of people with diagnoses of learning disabilities is at an all-time high, but with cuts to the care available, the police are being called on more for support. In the last decade, the number of people in the UK registered with learning disabilities has shot up by 90%, mainly driven by autism and its less extreme form, Asperger's.