Hertfordshire Constabulary is making a New Year plea – "keep our phonelines free, don't misuse the 999 service and report non-urgent crimes online".

Each day, an average of 500 999 calls and 1,000 101 calls come into the constabulary's Force Communications Room (FCR) at police headquarters in Welwyn Garden City.

"If it's an emergency, always dial 999, of course," said FCR Superintendent Jon Roche. "But if it isn't an emergency, you can report online or use our live web chat, which comes directly into the FCR – to a person, not a chatbot.

"Currently around one-third of all calls into Hertfordshire's FCR turn out not to be for police attention and should have been directed to other organisations, so we'd also ask people to pause and consider, is this a police matter?

"If you're unsure if your enquiry is for police or another organisation you can find out by visiting the www.askthe.police.uk website."

Online reports are assessed by experienced call handlers – the same people who take 999 and 101 calls – and dealt with as if they were taking the report over the phone.

As a general guide, if you require immediate police assistance because someone is in danger or the situation could escalate, always dial 999.

If you don't need police to attend straight away, this is classed as a non-emergency, and you have a few options of how to contact police; using an online report form, live webchat or by calling 101, where you may have to wait on the line for an available operator.

"If you're not sure if calling the police is the correct avenue for your enquiry then, if possible, please check online," added Supt Roche. "The information you're seeking could be there for you already via our website, a council website or another service provider.

"If you want to report a crime which has already happened, and is not in progress, then use our online reporting facility to log it and obtain a crime reference number."

He added: "We want to ensure our phonelines are free for those potentially life-threatening and crime-in-action 999 emergency calls rather than responding to queries which could be dealt with online."

You can report non-emergency crime, damage-only road traffic collisions and more online at www.herts.police.uk/report, speak to an operator in our FCR via our online web chat at www.herts.police.uk/contact or call the non-emergency number 101.

In an emergency situation call 999.