1-1-1

111 (usually pronounced one-one-one) is the emergency telephone number in New Zealand. It was first implemented in Masterton and Carterton on 29 September 1958, and was progressively rolled out nationwide with the last exchanges converting in 1988. In 2008, 111 celebrated fifty years of service.

History

Introduction

Before the introduction of 111, access to emergency services was complicated. For the quarter of New Zealand’s then 414,000 telephone subscribers that were still on manual exchanges, one would simply pick up the telephone and ask the answering operator for the police, ambulance, or fire service by name. However, the problem was on manual exchanges the calls were answered first-come-first-served, which meant on busy exchanges, emergency calls could be delayed. For automatic exchanges, one would need to look up the local police, ambulance or fire service’s telephone number in the telephone directory, know the number by heart, or dial the toll operator and ask them to place the call. The problem was that the numbers were different for each exchange, and again, there was no way to tell emergency calls apart from regular calls. Auckland, for example, had 40 telephone exchanges, and the telephone directory had 500 pages to search through to find the right number,^[1][2] although the separate emergency numbers for fire, police and ambulance in the main service area (e.g. Auckland, but not for not minor exchanges) were listed in bold on the first page.

Following the 1947 Ballantynes fire in Christchurch, fire officer Arthur Varley was recruited from the UK to bring about the reform of the fire service. Familiar with Britain’s 999 system, he campaigned for there to be a universal emergency telephone number across the country. In mid-1957, a committee was set up to institute a common emergency number across New Zealand, consisting of the Post and Telegraph Department, the Police, the Health Department, and the Fire Service. In early 1958, the Postmaster General approved the provision of the service using the number 111.^[2]

111 was specifically chosen to be similar to Britain's 999 service. With pulse dialling, New Zealand telephones pulse in reverse to the UK - dialling 0 sent ten pulses, 1 sent nine, 2 sent eight, 3 sent seven, etc. in New Zealand, while in the UK, dialling 1 sent one pulse, 2 sent two, etc. In the early years of 111, the telephone equipment was based on British Post Office equipment, except for this unusual orientation. Therefore, dialling 111 on a New Zealand telephone sent three sets of nine pulses to the exchange, exactly the same as UK's 999.^[3] Number "9" in New Zealand (or "1" in Britain) was not used for the start of telephone numbers because of the likelihood of accidental false calls from open-wire lines tapping together etc.

The telephone exchange in Masterton was replaced in 1956, and was the first exchange to have the technology installed for the 111 service. Hence Masterton and nearby Carterton were the first towns in the country to get the new service.^[2]

The 111 service began on 29 September 1958 in the two towns. When a subscriber dialled 111 at either exchange, the call was routed by the automatic exchange onto one of three dedicated lines to the toll switchboard at the Masterton exchange (although the exchange connected calls automatically, long-distance (toll) calls still had to be connected manually through an operator). A red light glowed on the switchboard panel, and another red light would glow on top of the switchboard. Two hooters also sounded, one in the exchange and the other in the building passage. The first operator to plug into the line took the call, and a supervisor would plug into the line to help if the situation became difficult.^[3]

Dedicated lines connected the toll switchboard to the Masterton police station, fire brigade, and the hospital, where they were connected to a special red telephone. The line connected to the fire station, when it rang, also sounded the station alarm bells. A similar arrangement was employed at the police station, while at the hospital the call went to the local switchboard where it was identified by a red light and a distinctive bell.^[3]

Among the first 111 calls was a call for an ambulance after an accident at a sawmill, and call to the fire service after a rubbish tip fire in Carterton. The first hoax call also occurred on the first day – a caller dialled 111 to ask for the address for a Carterton hotel.^[3]

Expansion

After the introduction of 111 in Masterton and Carterton, the service soon expanded to most major towns and cities, including from 1961 the main centres like Wellington, where the multi-exchange area included some pre-war Rotary exchanges.

By the mid-1980s all but a few rural exchanges had the service, and by 1988, 111 was available on every exchange in mainland New Zealand.

The dates of installation in some major towns and cities were:-

Controversy

In New Zealand in 2004, the police answering of emergency telephone service came under sustained scrutiny for systemic problems.

A case that caused particular concern was the disappearance of Iraena Asher, who vanished in October 2004 after she rang the police in distress and was instead sent a taxi that went to the wrong address.^[4][5]

On 11 May 2005 a severely critical independent report into the Police Communications Centres was released. It expressed ongoing concerns for public safety, and identified inadequate management, poor leadership, inadequate training, understaffing, underutilised technology and a lack of customer focus as being underlying risks for systemic failures. The report made over 60 recommendations for improvement, including recommending a 15 to 20 year strategy to move away from using 111 as an emergency telephone number because of problems with misdialling due to the repeated digits.^[6][7]

Despite ambiguous reporting, these issues were never with the 111 service itself, and did not impact fire or ambulance services. The problems were restricted solely to the Police Communications Centres.

Dialling 111

Any phone within New Zealand can dial 111, including payphones and mobiles, even without money or credit.

Mobile networks will treat a 111 call as the highest priority, disconnecting another call if necessary to allow it to go through.^[8]

Upon dialling 111, the Telecom operator will answer first: "111 Emergency—Fire, ambulance or police?". The operator will then connect the person to the relevant service. For situations requiring multiple services, the operator will put the person through to the most urgently needed service (For example, in a car accident involving injuries, which requires both ambulance and police, the operator will put the caller through to ambulance).

Apart from fire, ambulance, and police, 111 is the emergency number for civil defence, search and rescue (part of the police), and gas leaks (part of the fire service).

On average, only 34% of calls to 111 are real emergencies. To deter false calls, Spark (formerly Telecom) introduced a $6 fee, to be charged after the first false 111 call made in a month.^[9]

Other New Zealand emergency numbers

Other than 111, the following national emergency numbers are used for different services:-

• *555 - traffic incidents (dialable from mobile phones only)
• 0800161610 - Deaf emergency fax (connects to police)
• 0800161616 - Deaf emergency textphone/TTY (connects to police)
• 0800764766 - Poisons and hazardous chemicals emergency
• 0800611116 - medical advice ("Healthline", run by Ministry of Health)
• 0800808400 - railway emergencies (KiwiRail Network)
• 0800501122 - Military Police (NZDF Military Police)

Other emergency numbers vary from area to area, or from service provider to service provider. These numbers can be found under the "Emergency Information" section on pages 2 and 3 of the local White Pages telephone directory.

International usage of 111

In North America, this code cannot be used as an N11 number because of a conflict with the rotary alternative for star commands (11XX for *XX).

In South Korea, 111 is a special telephone number for reporting spies, international crimes, terrorism, corporate espionage, employment fraud and forgeries, and other crimes that threaten national security. It is operated by National Intelligence Service.^[10]

In the United Kingdom, NHS 111 is the single non-emergency number medical helpline in England and Scotland.

See also

• 000 Emergency phone number in Australia.
• 112 Emergency phone number across the European Union and on GSM mobile networks across the world.
• 119 Emergency phone number in parts of East Asia.
• 911 Emergency phone number in US and Canada.
• 999 Emergency phone number in United Kingdom (to which 112 calls are routed), Poland and Ireland. Also an emergency number in several non-EU countries.
• Emergency telephone
• Emergency telephone number
• In Case of Emergency (ICE) entry in mobile phone

References

External links

• Official 111 website
• YouTube video: Behind the scenes of "111" NZ Police Communications
• NZ Police simulated 111 calls