The Herald reports:
Police are introducing a new phone number people can call for non-emergency incidents they want to report to the authorities.
From today, Kiwis can call 105 for issues that aren’t emergencies, but still want to report them to police.
For example, if someone discovers their car is missing, they would be encouraged to call 105 instead of 111.
Likewise, if someone finds a broken window, or some new graffiti, from now on they should call 105.
The 111 number will still be in service – but police are asking for it to be reserved for instances where there is immediate danger.
The new number aims to take the pressure off the 111 phone number and to help provide better services for the public.
Police receive more than 2 million calls a year, according to Police Minister Stuart Nash.
Almost 900,000 calls are made to the 111 service. There are around 1.2 million non-emergency calls to other police numbers.
“Just 20 per cent of 111 calls result in an emergency response, known as priority one,” Nash said.
This is long overdue. People shouldn’t have to try and look up the number of the local police station to report not urgent issues. One easy to remember number for non emergency calls to the Police is just common sense.
I would have personally gone for something like 333, but 105 is easy enough to remember.
