Police are bringing in a new assessment system to deal with 999 and 101 calls.

Information provided by callers will be used to determine the most appropriate response.

Call handlers will make an assessment of threat, risk, harm and vulnerability in what police say is moving away from a "one size fits all" approach.

These include officers scheduling appointments at a convenient time or even issues being resolved over the phone.

The changes come after recommendations made by various public bodies in 2015 following the deaths of John Yuill and Lamara Bell.

The pair died after lying in a crashed car at the side of the M9 three days after the incident was first reported to police.

Assistant chief constable John Hawkins said: "We receive 2.5 million calls a year, less than 20% result in a crime being recorded, and increasingly people contact us around matters relating to vulnerability."

The approach will tested in the Lanarkshire and Dumfries and Galloway divisions and, depending on the results, a decision will be made about a further roll-out across the country.

Future phases could also see the introduction of a digital contact method with police call centres.

When Police Scotland was created in 2013, there were eight service centres and eight control rooms with different sites and systems not communicating with each other.

Now when a call goes in, those requiring a police response get put through to either Helen Street in Glasgow, Bilston Glen in Edinburgh or a centre in Dundee.

That has paved the way for the second phase of changes with extra training being provided to call handlers.

ACC Hawkins said £1.3m has been allocated to the entire project, with a sum "in the region of £500,000" being spent on the initial phase.