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January 10, 2018

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Home » Metro » Society

6m nuisance calls to 110 police emergency

By Chen Huizhi | 00:01 UTC+8 January 10, 2018 | Print Edition

RESIDENTS made over 12 millions calls to the police via Shanghai Public Security Bureau’s 110 call center in 2017, with half of them for trivial matters or false alarms, officials said.

Among the calls was one made by a resident to complain about roosters crowing. Another caller complained about her eyebrow being shaved at a beauty salon.

However, an average of 33,000 calls per day was lower than that in 2016, when the daily average reached 35,000.

Li Lin, the call center director, said the number of calls which resulted in officers being sent to the scene last year was the same as in 2016.

“This could mean that residents are now better informed of the rules regarding under what circumstances they can dial 110,” she said.

“The number 110 is supposed to deal with emergency situations only, and such nuisance calls are burden to our work,” Li added.

About 60 operators are on duty at the call center at any given time, with 20 on standby, and each of them can take up to 400 calls in a 12-hour shift.

The operators are so busy that they have to seek their supervisors’ permission when they need to use bathroom or leave their seat for other reasons.

Due to the high pressure at work, operators often quit after a few years, so the center is always on the lookout to recruit new people.

Zhang Simin, a 21-year-old former armed policeman, has been working at the call center for about a year. “When I started, there were only 47 operators on a shift, and we now have 60. So I can take intervals for a few seconds between calls instead of talking all the time,” he said.

It’s up to the operators to determine in which cases police officers should be dispatched. Cases which endanger human life take priority, Zhang said.

People causing false alerts can face detention up to 15 days, while fake bomb and terrorism claims can lead to criminal punishment.

The call center also has a team of 60 police officers on standby who can take calls from foreigners 24/7. They speak English, Japanese, French, German, Russian, Korean, Arabic, Spanish and Italian. Li said there was no plan to add other languages at present because those languages proved sufficient.

For non-emergency requests, consultations and complaints, residents are urged to call 12345 hotline.

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