Police dump 105 call-line target as wait times blow out

Sunday, 25 May 2025

Police operate two phone lines - 111 for emergencies, and 105 for non-urgent calls.

Targets for answering calls to police’s non-emergency 105 phone line have been quietly abandoned, after dismal failures to achieve them.

The 105 line was established in May 2019 to take pressure off the emergency 111 system.

Its clearly-stated target was to answer 70% of calls within 90 seconds.

It never got close.

The percentage of calls answered within the target has dropped from nearly 50% in 2019, to 15.9% in 2024.

The average wait time for calls to be answered has blown out from 1 minute 47 seconds in 2019, to 6 minutes 6 seconds in 2024, figures released to the Sunday Star-Times under the Official Information Act show.

Despite an improvement over the last two years, more than a third of all 105 calls still go unanswered.

This is despite the total number of calls to the 105 line falling 13% in the last year, from 1.26 million, to 1.1 million.

Police say they have now ditched the 90-second target.

“The priority is to provide a quality customer experience where our callers feel understood, listened to, and they can understand the information we provide them,” a spokesperson said.

Police established the 105 call line in 2019 in an attempt to reduce pressure on staff dealing with emergency calls about things such as crimes in progress.

Another spokesperson said: “Process-type measures, including call wait times, were considered to be less important by callers, and for this reason we no longer measure service against the 90-second time frame.”

Police say the target was removed from their annual report in 2021/22.

However, it was still referred to in a briefing to incoming police minister Mark Mitchell in February 2024.

And police quoted it as a target, in responses to the Star-Times in both 2023 and 2024.

Police say they now measure “customer experience levels” daily to understand their interactions with the public.

“In the 2023-24 Our Service, Your Say report, where the public called 105 to report a crime or non-emergency, they were satisfied with the overall quality of the service 73% of the time.”

But this seems to ignore the fact 35% of 105 calls went unanswered, and those callers were unlikely to have been among those surveyed.

And of those surveyed, only 65% considered the 105 line represented good value for tax dollars.

Police point to the fact callers are prompted while waiting to instead fill out a 105 form online, and there would be some callers who opted to do this among the 187,291 online 105 reports made in 2024.

But while the use of the 105 online reporting system, which police promote as an alternative to calling the phone line, has grown significantly in recent years, satisfaction with it is the lowest of all areas of public interaction with police, at just 50%, with only 46% considering it good value for tax dollars.

In 2023, police implemented a call-back system, which allowed callers to hang up and remain in a queue until police communicators called them back, and police say this has reduced the number of abandoned calls by 11%.

On average, however, callers are still waiting 2 minutes and 33 seconds before abandoning their calls.

The recent experience of one person spoken to by the Star-Times exemplifies the 105 system’s failings.

When their vehicle narrowly missed a bull running loose on a main highway at night, the person called 105.

Police received just over a million 111 calls in 2024, and 1.1 million 105 calls.

After waiting for more than five minutes without anyone answering, the person hung up, and tried calling again. Their second call also went unanswered for over five minutes.

So the person once again abandoned their call, and rang 111, where a communicator promptly dealt with the issue.

However, the whole point of the 105 line when it was launched with a million-dollar marketing campaign six years ago, was to stop people reporting non-urgent calls on the 111 line, thereby freeing up staff meant to be dealing with real emergencies.

Indeed, Superintendent Blair Macdonald, says: “The 105 system is an important tool to keep non-life-threatening calls from tying up our emergency communicators.”

Yet, Macdonald acknowledges many people who can’t get through to the 105 line are instead calling 111.

When people are unable to have their calls answered on the 105 line, many hang up and call 111, police acknowledge.

Police attempts to downplay the importance of call-answering times as part of customer satisfaction - and hence why the 90-second target was dropped - appear to clash with police’s own documents.

In their 2023-24 Our Service, Your Say report, police specifically identify “speed of police response” as one of the three most important drivers of public satisfaction, alongside satisfaction with staff spoken to, and the actions taken by police.

When it comes to those who called the 105 line, 29% declared they were dissatisfied with the speed of police response - compared to 20% dissatisfied for all police interactions.

Again, this figure is unlikely to include those who tried calling the 105 line, and gave up after being unable to speak with anyone.

Macdonald stresses the 105 system is “a crucial tool for police”, telling them where crime or suspicious activity is occurring, and providing data for intelligence teams, and tips for investigators that can help close cases.

He admits wait times are frustrating for people, but says there are limited resources. (A team of 240 people operate the 105 call system, separate to those dealing with 111 emergency calls.)

“Ideally, call wait times would be lower. However, a balance is required between wait times and the level of service we give the public.

“Some callers may choose to end the call and submit an online report, and we recognise that others may simply hang up and decide not to pursue it at this time.”

Macdonald says police now concentrate on people’s interactions with call-takers, rather than timeliness of answering calls, or how many calls were answered.

“Our focus is less on the number of reports we are taking, but the quality of them, and getting information that is required for the report to be completed.”

Changes had been implemented to make 105 online reporting easier, and police are considering new technology to improve their service, Macdonald says.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell didn’t answer a number of specific questions from the Star-Times about the 105 system, including whether he was satisfied with police response times; the fact more than a third of calls go unanswered; and high public dissatisfaction levels with both the 105 phone and online systems.

Instead, he issued a statement saying the 105 system was an “invaluable tool” used by many New Zealanders.

“Regardless of the target police are using, I am primarily concerned with the public getting the service they need.

“My expectation is that police will continuously look at how it can improve its systems and processes to keep the public safe.”