Ask the Police

Contains 800+ regularly asked policing Q&A’s, in a simple to understand format.

Ask the Police website is available to download as an app.

The Ask the Police app is an official police resource that provides Q&A's to a wide variety of the general public's most frequently asked policing questions. It is available to download for the public of England & Wales and tailored for the public in Scotland.

The Ask the Police app is intended to provide the public with information on a wide range of non-emergency policing issues, at a time to suit them.

The app contains accurate, legally verified answers to over 800 of the questions most frequently asked by the public. Questions and answers are added and updated frequently; daily highlights will provide topical information.

Police forces can input additional local information and advice for the benefit of their communities. If local information has been added by a specific force, this will be visible when logged into that force area.

Ask the Police offers an alternative online option for the public, reducing calls to the police, freeing up resources and therefore saving public money. The app provides links to relevant national organisations PLUS the facility to rate the answer.

If you cannot find what you are looking for, you can ask Charlie the Chatbot or email a specific question to our legal team which will be answered, within 48 working hours.

The content of the App sourced from the Ask the Police websites, which are provided by the PNLD (Police National Legal Database). The Ask the Police website was created by PNLD as a result of a thematic inspection of call handling within the police service by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). PNLD is a national organisation governed by West Yorkshire Police, it has provided online criminal law resources since circa 1994.

An internet connection is required to access the information in this app.