Police emergency call controversies over the last three years
2005
- February 2005: Christchurch suburb of Papanui: a woman whose child was taken during a domestic dispute allegedly had
to wait for police because the only officers available were on traffic duty and not listening to their radios.
- 10 February: A Hamilton woman who rang 111 to report being raped was asked to walk to the police station to make a
statement because she lived nearby.
- A Mataura couple have to hold their attacker down and wait 20 minutes for police to respond to their 111 call after
being assaulted in their own home, writes The Southland Times in an editorial.
- 3 FEB 2005 Police too busy for 111 call As an incoherent drunk man hammered at her door, Hamilton woman Anwen Hall was
told police could not respond to her 111 call immediately, they were at an incident.
- 4 FEB 2005, Police 'ignore 111 calls' Jeremiah Henley, 79, drowned at Ocean Beach on January 15, and the man who
pulled his body from the surf said police told him, after a 40-minute wait, they would not be able to attend. The man
later saw an officer on speed-camera duty at the intersec- tion leading to the beach.
2004
- 31 OCT 2004 Police in firing line again over 111 response
A WOMAN who waited an hour cowering in bushes outside her farmhouse as masked intruders stabbed and beat her husband was
blocked from calling her neighbours by a 111 operator.
When two masked intruders armed with a sawn-off shot gun, a knife and a crowbar attacked 54-year-old Pete Bentley at his
Te Puke farm shortly after 6am last Saturday, his wife Maggie grabbed a cordless phone, escaped into bush and called
111.
- 29 OCT 2004, Police to review 111 call system
POLICE are to review the way they handle emergency calls after their bungled handling of Iraena Asher's 111 request for
help.
The Auckland woman, in a distressed state, called police from Piha earlier this month.
She told them she had been pressured for sex, was scared and might have been drugged. Instead of sending a patrol car
police sent a taxi, which went to the wrong address.
- 2 AUG 2004 111 delay worries caller
A North Canterbury woman who claims it took about three minutes for her 111 call to be answered now doubts the ability
of police to cope with emergencies.
"In a normal 24-hour business, taking three minutes to answer a phone call would be unacceptable. For an emergency line
this is untenable," said Woodend resident Kirstyn Barnett.
- 24 NOV 2004, Family to meet police over 111 calls
AN OTAKI family will meet police today to work out why they waited 14 hours after phoning 111 to officially report three
assaults on family members.
Members of the Murray family plan to lodge a complaint with the Police Complaints Authority this week after three male
family members aged 17, 21 and 23 were assaulted last month and repeated calls to 111 failed to result in police
attendance.
2003
- 10 November 2003: An Invercargill woman alleges emergency services did not respond to 111 calls made from a party in
the city where a 24-year-old man was stabbed on October 11 and later died.
- 17 September 2003: The rescuer of a badly injured horse rider Felicity Jeffries says there was an unacceptable
one-hour delay in the response to his 111 call which could have had disastrous consequences.
- 4 June 2003: A teenager found dead in his car had dialled 111 less than half an hour earlier -- but police raced to
the wrong address. An inquest for Timothy James Hueston was yesterday told that a police communicator confused two
similar-sounding Christchurch locations.
- 19 April: South Invercargill: Mr Baynton said police took two hours to respond to his last 111 call. Allegedly
beseiged by gang
2002
„h 16 NOV 2002,
Soul-searching in wake of accident
POLICE and ambulance heads ducked for cover yesterday when asked why emergency services failed to turn up to rescue
digger operator Kevin Field.
- 12 JUL 2002,
Inquiry into 111 call continues
Police Complaints Authority - The matter was referred to the authority after an emergency services worker went public
with concerns over the police response to a 111 call made by Helen Johns after she was shot.
The man has said Ms Johns made the call to police at 8.40pm, saying she had been shot twice. Police have confirmed they
did not enter the house until 10.21pm and found Ms Johns dead.
Police did not enter the house until they could be certain the gunman had left.
- 28 FEB 2002
Failed 111 call fires up Telecom 'war'
Yesterday, Communications Minister Paul Swain stepped in to demand that the companies sort out their differences after
they blamed each other for a network fault which resulted in a Christchurch woman not getting through on a 111 emergency
call.
The problem emerged after the woman had to get help from neighbours when she was unable to contact the emergency
services using her TelstraClear phone on Monday night.
The woman involved in the incident, which was described as a family emergency, has asked not to be identified.
Mr Swain said it was not good enough for interconnection issues to interfere with basic services such as 111.
Every New Zealander needed to be able to rely on 111 in an emergency, he said.
- 2 FEB 2002
111 complaint
A Wanganui woman has lodged an official complaint after claiming that her 111 call to report a possible burglary went
unactioned. She said she was told that unless she could provide the registration number of the suspect vehicle, nothing
could be done.
ENDS