Minister directs 111 gripes right to the top

Police Minister George Hawkins is publicly urging anyone with concerns and complaints about the 111 system to contact the Police Commissioner "personally".

As controversy continued to grow yesterday over the reliability of the emergency 111 service, Mr Hawkins said the recent focus on the system had revealed a number of incidents "that warranted further scrutiny".

Earlier this week the 111 service came under renewed scrutiny after a young victim of sexual assault was told to make her own way to the police station when she called on the emergency line.

The Hamilton case emerged in Parliament as the Opposition placed intense pressure on Mr Hawkins over apparent failures in the system and the police responses to various incidents.

National leader Don Brash highlighted another call in which a Rotorua bar owner said he called 111 to get help with a drunken gatecrasher but never heard back from police. Rotorua Inspector Bruce Horne was not aware of the case when spoken to yesterday.

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson has apologised for the Hamilton incident, which happened just four months after the disappearance of 111 caller Iraena Asher at Piha.

Mr Hawkins' call yesterday for people with further complaints about the 111 service to contact the commissioner is an apparent attempt to avoid further embarrassing public exposure over 111 failures.

The minister has rejected calls from Opposition MPs to resign, despite telling TV One's Close Up: "I take the rap when things start to break down."

He told the Weekend Herald that the police were doing a great job.

"When you have just over half a million 111 calls per year, and because it is operated by people, you sometimes get human error."

Mr Hawkins said the commissioner would refer any serious complaints about the 111 system to the inquiry that was begun into the system after the Iraena Asher case, in which a taxi was dispatched following her call for police help.

United Future Leader Peter Dunne has called for an independent inquiry by a retired judge or other appropriate person, saying there was the prospect that public confidence in the police and 111 system was being "irretrievably eroded".

Internal reviews would be perceived as a cover-up, he said. An independent inquiry would reassure the public.