RESIDENTS in Maidstone are concerned that they have not been able to get a police response after contacting 000 in past weeks.
Alan King, the Neighbourhood Watch area manager for a section of Maidstone, said that on one occasion a resident tried to contact police but could not get through to an operator on 000.
And on a second night residents contacted 000 and Sunshine Police but did not get a police response to hoonish behaviour in Spurling St, Maidstone.
“The first was from a resident of Delacey St, Maidstone, who alleged that on 31 October he rang 000 twice and each time his phone cut out after ringing for a long period,” Mr King said.
“His phone shows that he made the calls at 3.46 pm, after no answer each time he then contacted Footscray Police. It was about a car he had not seen in the area before, parked at the kerb,” Mr King said.
He said the resident thought the car looked suspicious.
Mr King said that a Spurling St resident, a Neighbourhood Watch- accredited area “zone representative”, called 000 and Sunshine Police on 2 November.
The resident first called at 9.30pm, saying he was concerned about a car driving up the street and doing “wheelies” on the intersections of Scovelle Crescent, Raglan, Short, Harry and Bosquet Streets.
“A female police member on the first call told the resident that they had only one car servicing two areas and it was tied up,” Mr King said.
“Another Spurling St resident called 000 at 2330 hrs and indicated to 000 that the car was still in the area and a hoon was driving a dark charcoal station wagon with no number plates.”
Mr King said other residents had also contacted police on 2 November and said that if police had responded to initial calls, the driver would have been caught.
Senior Sergeant Michael O’Shaughnessy of Sunshine Police said that he could not comment directly on the incident as he did not have details.
But he said that when calls were received they were prioritised according to urgency.
He said calls ran through the communications section called Intergraph and Intergraph officers could forward the message to different police units, such as Sunshine or Footscray, depending on demand.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said Telstra operators picked up 000 calls and then directed them to the appropriate service.
The spokeswoman said Telstra had to explain why the 000 call was not answered.
Residents would need to write to Victoria Police with specific details of their complaints for the matter to be taken further by the communications department.
A Telstra spokesman said 99 per cent of calls to 000 were answered in under 10 seconds and a dedicated network and two call centres attended to calls. He said if residents wanted to pursue the matter they could contact Telstra with the time and date of their call and the number from which they rang.
Mr King said he had written to retiring Footscray MP Bruce Mildenhall.
