LTP.
ATCOs attending your SEP days etc YES PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Myself and many of my colleagues have been trying to get that for years! Only this year we've seen pilots come in to attend our "Training in Unusual Circumstances and Emergencies" days.
As for overreaction....as with local emergency services, ATC also have their own mandatory procedures. For example, if a 747 comes in on three engines, I HAVE to put on a local standby. No questions. Even if it's a BA 747 ferrying OUT to Cardiff on three engines, I HAVE to put on a local standby. I HAVE to put on a Full Emergency when an aircraft is known to have a complete or partial hydraulic failure.
Hence our questioning if you just say it's a 'technical problem'.
As for Danny's case of "ATC's SOP for them to declare an emergency if an aircraft states they have any 'technical' problem" well, that's just silly. I do hope they've modified that! If you say that you've got a tech problem (non-hydraulic) that will not affect a normal landing, then chances are I won't do anything.
All considerations of a/c safety aside, if I don't put anything on when my book says I should, I won't have a leg to stand on in court, and after the dreadful events to the ATCO after Ueberlingen, if something does happen for which we could have been better prepared for, who knows what might happen. And yes, these things are now factors in some ATCO decision making. CYA or what?