#contactcenterworld

New Delhi, India, Oct 1, 2019 -- It has been five days since the Delhi Police launched emergency number 112 and a major problem that has cropped up is the number of ‘unintentional’ or ‘blank’ calls the helpline is receiving. However, a feature which requires a caller to press 8 before the call goes to an operator, has proven to be an effective solution.

The data shared by the police state that the helpline has received an average of 15,000 calls a day since it was launched. Nearly 10,000 of these were blank calls.

On Sunday, 15,672 calls were received on 112 out of which 10,288 were blank calls, one was an enquiry call and 5,383 were crime-related calls, the data reveals.

Automated response

Explaining the situation, a senior officer said that smartphones have an inbuilt feature to connect to 112 if the push button is pressed thrice. "Even if the button is pressed by mistake, the call is connected, but only to the automated technology which asks the caller to press 8 if he/she wants to speak to an operator," he said.

During the trial run of the emergency number in 2017, one of the challenges faced by the security agency was the number of blank calls it received. In 2016, the Delhi Police had stopped the trial run and restarted it after a six-month gap in 2017.

The data also shows that the number of calls received on the emergency number is low as compared to police control room number 100, owing to little awareness among the public as it has only been five days.

On an average, the police control room number receives over 50,000 calls every day.

The officer also said that the new technology has made manual operations less time-consuming as once the officers in the control room take the caller’s message, he or she immediately flashes it to a device installed in PCR vans and also to the police station concerned.

Quick response

"There is no need to make calls to the PCR van in the area and to the police station. The message flashes at both places and the officer concerned marks it as ‘read’. However, in case of a technical glitch, the wireless always works," he said.

The Emergency Response Support System 112 is a single emergency number for services like police, fire and ambulance. It was launched on September 25.

#contactcenterworld

Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: https://www.thehindu.com