28 October 2004

Police Minister welcomes emergency calls review

Police Minister George Hawkins has endorsed Commissioner Rob Robinson’s decision to set up an external review of the way Police manage emergency calls.

“The recent incident at Piha highlighted the need for such action to rebuild public confidence in the emergency 111 system and establish why the system failed,” said Mr Hawkins.

“The Commissioner has advised me that he has wider concerns that the Communications Centres 111 service delivery may be falling short of public expectations and the Police’s own expectations. He wants a thorough look at the whole system and I support him in that mission,” said Mr Hawkins.

The review team will consist of a senior Police officer from New South Wales with support from two other officers from overseas possibly from the UK and Canada to look at current police practice and performance around emergency response and call management.

“It is vitally important this review is seen to be independent for the community to have confidence that any recommendations made by the review team will see some real impact on the delivery service by police,” Mr Hawkins said.

ENDS

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