Somebody's stolen my snowman!

Item on local news the other night (and we've been here before) asking people not to abuse the 999 system by dialing it for what (in the view of the police) are trivial matters.  So the interviewer asked the police spokesman what number the public should dial for non-emergency enquiries  "0300........." (and I can't remember the rest of it) said the policeman.  And that's it isn't it?  Everyone knows 999, but how many people know - or even know where to look for - the number of their local police?  Whatever happened to that idea of having an easy-to-remember number (101 was it?) for "non-emergency" emergencies?