A police force dealing with a surge in calls said almost a sixth were not appropriate – including complaints about barking dogs and loud music.
Bedfordshire Police handled 4,000 more calls last month compared with March last year, with the vast majority made to the 101 non-emergency number.
Most were “completely appropriate”, the force said, but about 15% were 999 calls for non-urgent matters or 101 calls for non-police issues, including bad parking.
“When there are 999 calls that are inappropriate or not emergencies, it takes up that call handler’s capacity to answer perhaps another 999 call in the queue,” said Supt Lee Haines.