Hong Kong Police on Sunday appealed to the public to use the 999 hotline service for emergencies only.

According to a Police press release, in the first half of this year, the number of 999 calls answered by the Police Regional Command and Control Centers was 1.25 million, of which only 36 percent were genuine calls and 64 percent were nuisance or misdialed calls.

The spokesman of the Police said that misuse of the emergency hotline would unnecessarily engage operators of control centers and delay the handling of genuine emergencies.

"Any abuse of the service will not only affect the efficiency of the Police in handling emergency situations, it could endanger the lives of people at risk by postponing their access to the service," he added.

The spokesman said that Police stations could also promptly handle most crime reports and requests of a non-emergency nature.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2006)