Police launch inquiry into 111 system

5.15pm

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson has set up an external panel to review police communications centres and the handing of emergency calls, prompted by the mishandling of missing Auckland woman Iraena Asher's cry for help.

Police issued an extraordinary apology last week for their decision to send a taxi in response to a 111 call from Ms Asher, who said she was in danger, under pressure to have sex and believed she may have been drugged.

The 25-year-old was last seen five hours later at 2am on October 11, either naked or scantily clad, wandering towards the sea at Piha beach about 40km west of Auckland.

The review would also consider other complaints made about the 111 service over the past year, Mr Robinson said today.

"The communications centres receive 1.6 million calls a year. The vast majority of those calls are dealt with to everyone's satisfaction," he said in a statement.

"But it only takes a couple of serious service lapses to shake confidence both internally and externally."

The 111 system was a critical part of the police service, Mr Robinson said. "It is time for a comprehensive health check on the system."

The panel would be chaired by New South Wales police Superintendent Michael Corboy, who is responsible for six communications centres and more than 600 staff in Australia.

Mr Corboy would be supported by two other overseas officers - most likely from Canada and the United Kingdom - and a New Zealand-based consultant.

The panel would provide an independent assessment of police emergency response including call management, policies and procedures, and interactions between New Zealand's three call centres and their districts, Mr Robinson said.

"I want to be assured that our communication centres are working as well as they can, so I can in turn provide assurance to the public."

The commissioner would consult the panel on the timeframe and terms of reference for the review.

The review was welcomed today by the Police Association, which offered its full support.

Association findings published in May highlighted serious shortcomings at police call centres, particularly in staffing, and predicted that it would take a crisis before the problems were addressed, association president Greg O'Connor said.

"We believe it is only the dedication of staff that has kept the system going so far," he said in a statement.

The association was confident the review would expose the need for greater resources to improve the safety of the public and police officers, Mr O'Connor said.

Terms of reference should ensure the review was conducted in the context of New Zealand's unique policing environment, he said.

"The fact that we have one of the lowest policing to population ratios in the western world and we have a national police, means that our communication system needs to have the same relevance to those in downtown Auckland and to the sole officer in Haast and the communities of South Westland."

Police Minister George Hawkins endorsed the decision to set up an external review.

"The recent incident at Piha highlighted the need for such action to rebuild public confidence in the emergency 111 system and establish why the system failed," he said in a statement.

"The commissioner has advised me that he has wider concerns that the communications centres' 111 service delivery may be falling short of public expectations, and the police's own expectations."

Mr Hawkins said Mr Robinson wanted "a thorough look at the whole" system, and had his support for doing that.

- NZPA