A NEW phone service designed to take the pressure off 999 services has been launched.
People living in Wales can now call the police on 101 if they want to speak to an officer but their problem is not an emergency.
Organisers say the new number will run alongside 999 and is not intended to replace it.
Calls made to 101 will be answered by dedicated call handlers who work in the same force area as the calls are made.
Calls will cost 10p from both land lines and mobiles.
A spokeswoman for North Wales Police said: “People are still advised to call 999 if violence is being used or threatened, there is danger to life, a crime is in progress or offenders carrying out a crime have recently been disturbed, and if there has been a road accident where people are injured, or there has been a non-injury accident where traffic is affected.
“Out of the 110,000 calls made to 999 for the North Wales Police, only 39% require an emergency response. This means that 999 call handlers are dealing with 61% of non-emergencies. The 101 number will take the strain off the emergency call handlers and enable them to dispatch a response to the emergency calls quicker.”
