Think carefully before you call Triple Zero

The police urge people in Australia to save Triple Zero (000) for emergencies only and contact the police for non-urgent incidents through other assistance lines. If your call to Triple Zero is not for an emergency, you might be delaying people in life-threatening situations from getting help in time.

A man talks to police after he was rescued from his submerged car by State Emergency Service workers in Windsor on July 04, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. Source: Getty Images/Jenny Evans

In Australia, Triple Zero (000) is a national emergency service number that you can call for 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 (ESTA).

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.

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