Long waits for people ringing police non-emergency 105 phone line

Photo / RNZ

By RNZ

Some people ringing the police non-emergency number have encountered wait times of more than an hour in the past month.

The 105 phone number gets more than 100,000 calls each month.

The police say about a third of calls are abandoned before an operator picks up.

The average hold time is four and a half minutes.

The longest wait recorded was two hours and 20 minutes.

A police spokesperson says long wait-times are undesirable, and can be caused by surges in demand, long phone call durations, and operator availability.

Emergency calls to 111 are prioritised.

The average wait time for a 111 call was 29 seconds in April, and the longest wait was just over seven minutes.

- RNZ