The police have appealed to the public not to make emergency calls for trivial incidents - like asking them to babysit or investigate a bad haircut.
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Or to arrest an unhelpful removalist: "Please don't give us a Triple Zero (000) call among the gumtrees because your tree removalist won't help you get your furniture off the back of a truck," ACT Policing has pleaded on its Facebook page.
It's the latest in a list of despairing appeals to the public not to call the emergency line for incidents which may be important to the caller but which divert resources from more serious matters - like fighting crime.
In recent months, the police in Canberra have complained about a caller asking them to tell his or her mate that the caller has run out of credit on the phone.
Some of the recent pleas by the police use humour, as though they don't quite know whether to laugh or cry. One sardonic plea said: "There are many other ways to find out how to get from Fyshwick to Civic instead of calling Triple Zero."
The police suggested as alternatives to the Triple Zero call: "Google maps; Ask a mate; Smoke signals; Trail of bread crumbs; Those large pieces of paper with streets on them that parents pull out on road trips."
Another despairing plea from the police said: "Do not, and we can't believe it needs to be said, call the police if you get locked out of your phone."
Yet another exasperated plea from ACT Policing complained, "We don't just receive reports about loud bangs, we also receive reports about hair bangs.
"Please don't call Triple Zero because the hairdresser didn't give you the cut and colour from the picture you showed them!"
The police said they had a call last year from someone complaining about the petrol they were buying. "Someone actually did this. Please don't!" the police said on their Facebook page.
In July last year, the police said they had an emergency call from someone who said, "My neighbour has parked on the road in front of my house and they're being annoying."
The police responded: "That is NOT an emergency!"
They also got a call from someone complaining of "rude service".
And this: "Someone thought they'd let us know that their neighbour was putting rubbish in their bin."
"Canberra! Triple Zero (000) is for emergencies only. NOT for asking us to babysit your kids because hubby is late home from work."
The police don't think most of these calls are malicious - just from people not thinking enough, though last year, a 36-year-old man faced court after police charged him with needless calls to the Triple Zero line.
Police said the O'Connor man made 11 nuisance calls, prompting officers to visit his home in the middle of the night.
Superintendent of ACT Policing Operations, Rohan Smith said at the time that the incident was a reminder that these kind of calls had the potential to put lives at risk.
"It should be obvious enough that the Triple Zero (000) emergency line is for emergencies only, and people can face severe penalties for making nuisance calls to this line," Superintendent Smith said.
"Unnecessary and nuisance calls can place undue strain on the system and police call-takers, meaning that genuine emergencies may not be responded to in a timely fashion."
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