BARRINGTON — It may be the cry for help of our times: “But I want to talk to a real person!”

For a change, you can. Nonemergency phone calls to the Barrington public safety building are answered by something different now: a human being.

After some callers complained about an automated recording that was in use for a year, dispatchers now answer routine calls. The automated system had a recorded voice that gave callers choices of a dispatcher, detectives, the chief’s office and others. “We received a couple of calls,” Chief John M. LaCross said, in which “some residents felt it was too long” and there were “some complaints that they were not getting patched through to the right [extension].”

LaCross said the change attempts to better serve residents and recognizes that people often feel they can’t get a person on the phone for anything. LaCross said the equipment for the recording system was already installed when he became chief and that the department activated it to help dispatchers, who handle 911 calls, Fire Department calls and talk with officers on the road or at a scene.

The Police Department will monitor the new arrangement to see if it works, given everything dispatchers handle, the chief said. If it proves to be too burdensome, it’s conceivable the department could consider going back to a recording. Some larger police departments have people who take nonemergency calls.