Police emergency number hit by problems
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Those who need to dial 191 in a police emergency may have to exercise a little patience after it was revealed that the emergency number is having problems with its new telephone operator.
Pol Colonel Sanpisit Yaemkesorn, superintendent at the 191 centre, said that for the last five months the emergency exchange had been using a new telephone operator, after it moved to a new police office building. Despite the same number of officers on duty to receive calls, the number of telephone lines had dropped from 12 to six – resulting in a poor quality service.
Sanpisit said the exchange |had also been dealing with other service problems, including |being unable to record emergency calls; the caller’s number, or the number of emergency calls received.
Metropolitan Police Bureau deputy chief Pol Maj-Gen Adul Narongsak has requested more funding to increase the number of telephone lines, but in the meantime, a public relations campaign is seeking to encourage members of the public to opt for JS 100 telephone numbers.
Over 3 million calls were made to 191 in 2010, according to statistics. Of that number, 358,475 were complaints; 663,123 were prank calls and 695,135 went unanswered.
In 2011, 2.8 million calls were made; 427,019 were complaints; 427,019 were prank calls and 244,174 went unanswered.
In 2012, 2.9 million calls |were made; 419,812 calls were complaints; 363,698 were prank calls and 523,525 went unanswered.
