Police today urged the public to use the 999 hotline for emergencies only.
Police Regional Command & Control Centres received more than two million calls last year, only 65% of which were genuine urgent calls for help.
The rest were misdialled or nuisance calls.
Police said hotline misuse delays the handling of genuine emergencies, endangering the lives of people in urgent need of assistance.
People should contact police stations for non-emergency requests and reporting crimes.
A list of police station contact numbers is on Police website.
