Canberra police have been forced to remind the public about what sort of events constitute an “emergency situation” following a spike in frivolous calls.

Look, we’ve all been there. Any sort of minor misfortune can easily seem like the end of the world, and it’s only natural that you seek out a fast solution to your issue, right?

Well, while that is indeed a logical response, it seems that an awful lot of Aussies are having a hard time working out when they need to call in the big guns.

According to the Canberra Times, police in the ACT have been forced to issue a message out on Twitter, reminding the public that law enforcement are not your go-to guys for frivolous tasks.

However, it gets worse from there, with the Canberra Times noting that local police have been forced to deal with calls for babysitting requests, news of a broken window awning, and even a complaint that a fast food order was cold.

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“These calls reduce ACT Policing’s capacity to respond to genuine emergency incidents in a timely manner,” a police spokesman told the publication, noting 70% of emergency line calls don’t require immediate assistance.

“The calls also occupy emergency service lines unnecessarily and have the potential to delay a genuine call for emergency assistance being answered. This can obviously have dire consequences.”

Of course, while it is indeed an offence to repeatedly misuse emergency services such as this, the penalty for such behaviour can vary between state.

Notably 2017 saw the arrest of a Northern Territory man who was later charged with making 1,862 nuisance calls to police stations around the country.

While it might be rather tempting to call the police to complain that your Uber Eats order was lacking in sauce (a horror I, too, experienced last Friday night), maybe this might be a call you should direct to the restaurant themselves rather than the cops?

Help remind yourself which number to call in an emergency:

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