A NEW campaign has been launched to reduce the soaring demand on the police control room in north Wales which takes over 1,100 calls a day.

According to North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones, only 150 of those calls are reporting crimes and he is urging the public to help take the pressure off by thinking before they dial 999.

Mr Jones, a former police inspector who worked in the old control rooms in Wrexham and Colwyn Bay, was on a visit to the Force’s Joint Control Centre in St Asaph where this year they have dealt with an extra 5,600 999 calls.

That equates to an extra 27 calls a day or an 11.2 per cent increase.

In total the current centre in St Asaph handles over 400,000 emergency and 101 calls a year and according to Mr Jones more than half of them are unnecessary.

Over the past two years the number of emails from the public has doubled to an average of 4,300 a month or 150 a day.

At the same time, the number of webchats handled by the centre has trebled to 1,700 a month or 56 a day.

The force are also launching a major social media blitz to drum home the message throughout December.

Mr Jones said: “We’ve got to manage the demand here and encourage people to think before they dial 999 or 101.

“Out of 1,100 calls a day here only 400 incidents are created – that means over 600 don’t require any police action but they still take time to deal with – time that could be spent dealing with a real emergency.

“Many of the calls are not actually police matters and should be directed to other agencies, whether it be local authorities or the health board.

“You should only call 999 if there is a direct and immediate threat to life or property or if a crime is in progress.

“People need to think before they pick up the phone and decide who they really need to speak to.”

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