The great police siren poser: Nee-nah or woo-woo?

WHEN police visited a primary school, the pupils wanted only one question answering: ‘Do your sirens go nee-nah or woo-woo?’

The four and five-year-olds got a little more than they bargained for when the officers gave them a deafening response by setting off the siren in their panda car.

The pupils were left to decide for themselves how best to describe the racket, but the police later offered a tongue-in- cheek apology for the demonstration by the com- munity support officers who attended the ‘People Who Help Us’ session with three reception year classes at Haydonleigh Primary School in Swindon.

In a post on Facebook, North Swindon Police said: ‘Apologies to anyone in the Haydonleigh area who may have been disturbed by our sirens yesterday morning – the PCSOs were at the primary school having a very important debate with the new reception year children about whether they go nee-nah or woo-woo.’

They added: ‘Our thanks to the teachers and pupils… for being so attentive to our People Who Help Us talk. We were very impressed by your beautiful behaviour, thoughtful questions and knowledge about the police.

‘We especially liked the suggestion that we should have police rhinos, and will be looking into the possibility of training them to knock down the baddies’ front doors.’ There are at least six different types of siren used in the UK and most vehicles are able to sound them in different tones. According to one police training document, a longer tone should be used when the driver can see further and a shorter one in built-up areas.

Sirens have become a hot topic after police in the West Midlands complained about being forced to use cars without them. But senior officers insisted vehicles used to answer 999 calls and chase suspects will always have blue flashing lights and sirens, known as ‘blues and twos’.