Woman jailed for making hundreds of abusive and racist calls to 999

A woman who made hundreds of foul-mouthed 999 calls abusing operators’ race and gender has been jailed.
Monika OsinskaMonika Osinska
Monika Osinska

Monika Osinska of Liverpool Road, Peel Green was sentenced yesterday (Tuesday February 5) to 12 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to persistently making use of a public communication network to cause annoyance at Manchester & Salford Magistrates’ Court. During the 34-year-old's latest spate of offending, between September and November 2018, Osinska made 339 malicious 999 calls – costing the Operational Communications Branch over £1400 due to lost time and wages and hampering the OCB’s essential role of deploying officers to crimes and major incidents. On just one day alone in this period, she called 23 separate times. The court heard that Osinska has a long history of making malicious phone calls to 999 from her mobile phone. In January 2018 Osinska received a police caution for making more than 150 malicious 999 calls in less than a month. Despite the warning, she continued making abusive calls to call handlers in which she often made derogatory remarks about the call handler’s gender, race and nationality. In May 2018, Osinska appeared at Manchester Mags and had an existing 12 week suspended sentence for malicious communications extended to 15 months. Despite GMP also deploying specialist officers to engage with Osinska, she remained uncooperative and continued to make malicious calls. Upon her arrest this week, she refused to accept that her behaviour was a problem, telling officers: “Well everyone calls 999. I read it in the paper.” Superintendent Mark Kenny of GMP’s Salford Division said: “Anyone who ties up a 999 line with inappropriate calls prevents genuine emergencies being dealt with, and potentially puts lives in danger. “Osinska’s deplorable behaviour has run this risk hundreds of times – not to mention causing gross offence to the hard-working call handlers who’ve had to deal with her frequent abuse, as well as wasting public money. “The nature of Osinska’s calls was frequently vile – and never once referred to a valid emergency situation. “She has been given numerous chances to cease this behaviour, but has refused time after time to engage with officers. “Quite why she continued; only she knows. She has brought this punishment upon herself and will now have a long time to think about her actions.”

The correct way to contact police:The 999 number is for emergencies only. This includes when a crime is in progress, someone suspected of a crime is nearby, when there is danger to life or when violence is being used or threatened. For all non-emergencies the 101 number should be used. Citizen’s Contract:Greater Manchester Police has lost a quarter of officers over the past few years and this, coupled with the changing nature and seriousness of crime means that we have to work together with the community, now more than ever. The force is fully committed to providing the most effective service possible and has been listening to people across Greater Manchester over the last 18 months to find out what they expect from us and what they think they can do to support policing. As part of this work, we recently launched the new Citizen’s Contract which sets out seven points of how we will continue to be upfront and honest about our priorities and demands but also asks the public to support us by contacting us in the right way, sharing information and intelligence with us and working together with their neighbours to create places to live that everyone can be proud of. For more information about the Citizen’s Contract, please visit our website, www.gmp.police.uk