Police happy after thousands of calls made to new 105 number

Police Commissioner Mike Bush says people have reported a variety of non-emergency incidents including an abandoned car, stolen washing off their line, or a laptop has been pinched.

A new non-emergency designed to relieve pressure from the current 111 system has received more than 11,000 calls in its first 12 days of operation.

The new 105 - tenfive - number was launched by Police commissioner Mike Bush on May 10, at 10.05am.

Bush today said while it was still too early to accurately forecast demand, "the new non-emergency service is certainly tracking well".

"I'm very pleased to share that as of 10am this morning we've answered
more than 11,577 calls to 105," says Commissioner Bush.

Police received more than 2 million calls a year, according to Police Minister Stuart Nash.

Almost 900,000 were made to the 111 service.

However, just 20 per cent of 111 calls resulted in an emergency response or were classified as "priority one", Nash said.

Another 20 per cent were priority two.

Bush today acknowledged that historically police have "not always been
an easy organisation to get hold of quickly in a non-emergency situation".

"With the 105 non-emergency number we're hoping to build trust and
confidence in police by giving New Zealanders a simple, new way to report
situations that don't require an urgent or immediate response," he says.

"So far people have reported a variety of non-emergency situations, such as
an abandoned car with a broken window, their washing stolen off the line, or
their laptop has been pinched."

The first 105 call that came through was to report a car parked across
someone's driveway, he said.

Early callback surveys show 89 per cent of callers were satisfied with the
quality of service they received and 100 per cent would use the service
again.

Another option police had made available was online reporting for some
specific non-emergency situations.

"Since we launched online reporting late last year, almost 13,000
non-emergency reports have been filed via the web portal," he said.

"Encouragingly, almost 83 per cent of online users are satisfied or very
satisfied with the quality of the reporting process.

"Currently people can report lost property, intentional property damage,
shoplifting, general theft and theft from a car via 105.police.govt.nz."

Regular updates and improvements would be made to the online
service, with more non-emergency options available to be reported
soon.