POLICE chiefs want a non-emergency hotline in Scotland as they struggle daily to handle thousands of misdirected calls.

Frustrated senior officers today said spending has soared as they face up to 16,000 emergency calls a day, many of which should have gone to other public services.

They want a number, such as 101 or 888, for all non-emergency calls to services, including police.

The proposal came as Audit Scotland said the public was still confused over who to phone for non-emergency calls.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said it was "watching with interest" pilot projects for a 101 non-emergency police phone line in England and Wales.

Doug Cross, Acpos telecommunications spokesman, said: "Acpos is keen to see this developed as a public service number in Scotland rather than being restricted to dealing just with anti-social behaviour.

"In addition, Acpos has recognised the need for forces to work with its partners in all communities in developing a list of appropriate telephone numbers for households and businesses that can direct residents to the most appropriate service they may need until a single non-emergency number is developed."

Police forces spend £45million a year on call handling and deal with an ever-increasing daily calls total blamed on the huge rise in mobile phone ownership.

Emergency 999 calls make up only a small proportion of calls, but a quarter of all 999 calls in Britain are "silent" or mistaken calls.

Glasgow MSP Bill Aitken said: "One option is the creation of a national non-emergency phone number, such as 888. The call could be received at a central point and a message sent to the local divisional police office."