New Zealanders are becoming more and more dissatisfied with the 105 service, new data shows, but police are optimistic this will improve.
The service, established in 2019, can take reports over the phone or online 24/7, but it is for events that do not need an immediate callout, like stolen cars, scams or damaged property.
NZ Police’s newly published annual report states that in the first year, 87% of users said they were satisfied with the service. That’s fallen every year since – now just 63%. The police standard is just over 75%.
A year ago police started a call-back option to reduce hold times. The average time on hold is just over six minutes but police initially had a goal of one and a half minutes.
Sometimes waits balloon – Auckland man Jayden Steyn has called on four occasions, including when his car was vandalised in a car park but has not always got through promptly.
“I mean at first when I did dial them I did have quite high hopes,” he told 1News.
“Waiting in the queue for about an hour and still not getting a response, it’s a very big disappointment.”
But he empathised with police – acknowledging they were doing their best, and varying wait times reflected the changing crime rates each day.
“I’m not mad at the officers, I would say… I don’t blame the police for that. It is unfortunate that we’re in a situation where that is happening.”
The longest call to 105 was 2.5 hours last year, but police say such a lengthy time on hold is an outlier.
Services and resolutions executive director Rachael Bambery told 1News: “Some calls have come in overnight where we don’t have as many staff rostered on. That’s not our peak times.”
Police also told 1News the call-back option had improved the service and that 105 had enhanced online forms, making the process of reporting online easier.
Police said 105 had also encouraged more people to report online where possible and that call handling was recently improving, with decreased times on hold.
Currently about one-third of 105 reports come through online and the rest over phones.
About 40,000 callers hung up per month last year before speaking to the call centre, but police suspect a large contributor is people hanging up to report to 105 online when prompted when they are first put on hold.
Police have also said they want the 105 system to be better at following up on crime reports so people who make contact are not left wondering what happened after they report concern.
NZ Police Association president Chris Cahill said the unknown outcomes for callers, in his opinion, are “probably the biggest frustration”.
About 1.2 million 105 reports are made yearly, but some are not crime-related.
Bambery said: “Sometimes we’re working with people that don’t know where else to go, so they might ring up about what the time is and they’re a bit confused about daylight savings. Or where has their bus stop gone to? And so the 105 teams are really good at problem-solving as quickly as possible.”
She said the 105 centre was also always looking for new staff to hire.
“The variety of calls that come through the 105 line is what makes it a brilliant place to work. The team sees some really vulnerable people.”
The service, including the digital channels, costs about 20 to 24 million dollars per year to run.
And Cahill said most reports, are helping police gather intelligence.
“If we can’t link crimes, or half of them aren’t being reported, we can’t identify hotspots and those sorts of things. So it’s really important to report them.”