IF YOU HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN, OR HAVE WITNESSED A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT, IF YOU HAVE BEEN A VICTIM OF OR WITNESSED A CRIMINAL OFFENCE, IF YOU BELIEVE YOUR PEACE HAS BEEN DISTURBED, OR IF YOU BELIEVE THAT THE POLICE CAN PROTECT YOUR SAFETY IN ANY OTHER WAY, CALL 113!

Whenever citizens require police assistance, they can call the 113 emergency number. Emergency calls are received and recorded by the deputy shift manager of the operation and communication centre at the regional police directorate. Also when a citizen requests police assistance by calling the telephone number of the nearest police station, in person or by seeking the direct assistance of police officers at the location of an incident or offence, the operation and communication centre is immediately notified.

The police officer receiving a notification of an emergency incident must request as detailedtailed information as possible from the notifier so as to determine the priority level of the required intervention and the method of its organisation.

Anyone calling the Police using the 113 emergency number should describe the incident as accurately as possible, state the consequences the incident has had on people, the precise time and place of occurrence, possibilities for accessing the scene of emergency, the reason for the offence, the number of people who witnessed the incident and finally their personal data.

Following the receipt of an emergency call, the shift manager assesses the priority of events requiring intervention dividing them into those needing immediate dispatch to the scene and those that can wait.

Emergency calls are all calls connected to incidents:

• that pose a direct threat to lives,
• where violence has been used or upon receiving a call a real threat has been assessed,
• where a police officer has been attacked or requires help or
• actions for the committing of a criminal offence have been announced or that a criminal offence
• is already being committed and the perpetrator of the criminal offence could escape,
• in which a traffic accident has occurred involving serious bodily injury or a traffic accident which threatens the safety of other traffic participants and
• when the shift manager assessed that the incident requires immediate police intervention.

Nevertheless, citizens do not only call the 113 emergency telephone number when they require police intervention. Residents also call the 113 number requesting general information (for example, road conditions and conditions at border crossings, which countries require an entry visa, and the like) or in provocation. The Police consider these "empty calls". The Police in this sense perform a preventive and service activity with regard to such calls. Foreign research has also shown that only 20% of calls regard true police activities, while the remaining 80% fall under so-called service activities. The situation in Slovenia in recent years reflects a similar picture.

Response time of police forces

The response time comprises the time from placing a call to 113 emergency number, which is received by an employee of the operation and communication centre of the regional police directorate, to the arrival of a police patrol, crime scene group or other competent service to the location of the emergency event, offence or incident. The speed of police action is also connected to the time required by a police patrol to arrive at the scene. Through its work, the operation and communication centre of the regional police directorate can decrease the amount of time between the receipt of an emergency call and the dispatch of a police patrol to the scene of the incident.

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