Prank calls keep control room busy

Kathmandu, January 23

The toll free number of police (100), meant for providing information on criminal activities and seeking assistance of the law enforcement agency for emergency response, is often flooded with prank calls.

The officials at Police Control Room of the Metropolitan Police Office are having a tough time due to unwanted calls.

According to MPO, the control room received as many as 3,031,648,881 calls between mid-December to mid-January and 8,719 of them were hoax calls.

The rest of the calls were related to theft, robbery, brawl, road accident, call for police action to settle family dispute, missing persons, vehicle lost and found, fire, call for police mobilisation, noise pollution, kidnapping, black-marketing, vandalism, fatal fall, gambling, complaint against criminal activities, suicide and inquiry.

MPO has classified incoming calls into three categories — A, B and C — depending on the severity of a problem. ‘A’ is categorised for requests which require immediate police mobilisation, ‘B’ for inquiries while ‘C’ lists prank calls.

The classification is done on the basis of call analysis and verification.

Officials said the control room received prank calls mostly at nights and such callers were usually children and inebriated men. Some callers dial 100 to entertain and appease their children by taking advantage of the toll-free number, they claimed.

“It is our duty to deploy resources as and when we receive calls for ‘emergency response’. But the hoax calls waste our time as well as efforts,” said an MPO official, urging general public not to make unnecessary calls to the control room.