KEY POINTS:
The trial of a new police telephone service for non-emergency calls will begin on Friday.
Intended to take pressure off the stretched 111 system, the trial will filter non-emergency calls away from the communications centres of Auckland City and Bay of Plenty police districts.
Non-urgent calls, like burglaries and car thefts, will be diverted to the new service.
Police first announced plans to set up a national non-emergency call service in February, as a result of intense criticism following the 2004 disappearance of Aucklander Iraena Asher.
Police sent a taxi to Piha to pick up the distressed woman after she called 111 for assistance. Ms Asher has still not been found.
Police Minister Annette King said the Government had allocated $3.5 million a year in funding for the trial from this year's budget.
The budget also allocated $850,000 capital spending a year for the first three years to cover capital costs associated with the trial.
- NZPA
