In Australia, Triple Zero (000) is a national emergency service number that you can call for an ambulance, fire services or police when you are in a life-threatening or time-critical emergency.
In 2019-2022 there were over 7,600 calls a day to Triple Zero in Victoria alone, or one call every 11 seconds, according to Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority.
Senior Sergeant Kristy Walters, director of PoliceLink of NSW Police, says that people can help in reducing the volume of calls to Triple Zero by calling in emergencies only and report non-urgent incidents to Police Assistance Line on 131 444 instead.
“If we are talking to someone and responding to their non-urgent inquiry, that means our emergency calls are waiting and can't get through as quickly as we would like. So for us, it's certainly about creating awareness in the community about when to call 000 and inform the community about our other non-emergency lines.”
Minor crimes, non-urgent incidents such as burglary, theft, lost property, or minor property damage that already happened some time ago should be reported to the Police Assistance Line on 131 444. It is available nationwide 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In a weather-related incident, such as a flood, storm or landslide emergency, if someone is in a life-threatening situation, call Triple Zero right away.
But if it only causes significant structural damage to a house or a property, the State Emergency Service should be contacted instead.
Even if you can’t speak English, you can still call Triple Zero and the Police Assistance Line. You need to specify which language and then an interpreter will be organised for you free of charge.
Senior Sergeant Walters explains.
“If they call Triple Zero or the Police Assistance Line, we can engage an interpreter service on their behalf. We do need to know what language, but certainly we have the ability to conference in an interpreter and assist the caller with that.”
Emergency Plus application and Advanced Mobile Location are tools on mobile phones recommended by the Australian Government to assist Triple Zero callers in identifying their locations quickly and accurately across Australia.
Click on the player above to listen to this information in Punjabi.
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