Messages of an urgent nature have been left on the answering machines of several smaller stations, causing police to again remind people to call triple zero first time, every time.

Station commander at Ballarat D24 police communications, Senior Sergeant Brett Adam, said phone messages at non-24 hour stations such as Buninyong, Gordon, and Lexton, might not be answered for some time.

“If you ring the local member, they could be off duty and the message might not ever get through,” he said.

“If they leave a message on an answering machine, it could go unanswered for a couple of days.”

Senior Sergeant Adam said it was a simple message.

“If you think the police need to come – ring triple zero,” he said.

“If you see a drunk driver, if you see someone doing graffiti, call triple zero straight away because we might have a car in the area who can go and catch them straight away.”

Senior Sergeant Adam said people should call triple zero for police – emergency or not.

“Even if you ring Ballarat (a 24-hour station), a constable there will write it all down and then ring it through to triple zero,” he said.

“It’s just double-handling and it happens quite a lot.”

Buninyong police sergeant Peter Anderson said the first task for members when they start a shift is always to check the station’s answering machine.

“We’ll get messages on the answering service that could – and should – have been attended,” he said.

Sergeant Anderson said people leaving messages might expect a call-back within half an hour, but in reality, it could take days.

“Triple zero is a police response number – if you want a response from police, call triple zero. It’s as simple as that.”