Increased mobile phone use has seen a rise in 999 calls

Audit Scotland said more than 350,000 wrong or inappropriate calls were made to the emergency line last year.

The watchdog has recommended that more should be done to let the public know what numbers to call when it is not an emergency.

Scotland's police chiefs have called for a separate number to be created for non-emergency calls.

In England people can call 101 to report minor incidents and concerns.

People are generally satisfied with the service but there is much uncertainty about the number to call for non-urgent inquiries Alastair MacNish Accounts Commission Scotland

Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have supported the creation of a similar number in Scotland.

Most non-emergency calls should have been directed to a local police station or to another agency, such as the council.

Some people have dialled 999 when they have been locked out of their homes or to ask for traffic information.

Audit Scotland found that Scottish police forces receive almost 16,000 calls a day and people are generally satisfied when they call 999 or a non-emergency number.

Mobile phones

Its report, Police Call Management: An Initial Review, followed a recent reorganisation of how calls are handled.

Alastair MacNish, chairman of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, said: "People are generally satisfied with the service but there is much uncertainty about the number to call for non-urgent inquiries.

"The police need to do more to understand the range of demands from callers and to improve the information they give to the public about how to make contact when it's not an emergency."

The rise in mobile phone ownership over the past decade has seen increased calls to the police.

There have been calls for a non-emergency police line

A survey of 2,500 adults found that half had phoned the police some time in their lives, with 22% calling in the previous year.

In 2006/07 Scotland's eight police forces spent �45m handling 5.8 million calls (15,900 a day), from the public.

The review found from available data that between 30% and 50% of calls were non-emergencies.

However, the report said that as there was no national strategy when new call management procedures were brought in, forces now have a range of different systems.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos) has been trying to establish a national non-emergency hotline and recently agreed a sequence of 0845 numbers for each force.

Unnecessary strain

Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Margaret Smith said: "The inappropriate use of the 999 facility puts unnecessary strain on police resources.

"The government must support Acpos in developing the national non-emergency number and to promote awareness of when to use 999."

Robert Black, the Auditor General for Scotland, said there was also a need for consistent information that would allow forces to compare their performance.

"It is concerning that each police force has developed its own way of recording the number and types of calls, because this makes it difficult to look at the demands on the police and assess how well they are responding," he said.

"Without clear and consistent information about police call management across Scotland, neither the Scottish Government nor the police authorities can scrutinise performance to make sure that the new systems are achieving the intended benefits and providing value for money."