JIS Information- The Jamaican Authorities is crafting laws to deal with the difficulty of prank calls to the Police’s 119 emergency quantity.
This, because the Jamaica Constabulary Power (JCF) is reporting that roughly 85 per cent of calls to 119 are prank calls.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Emergency Communication Centre, Gary Francis, informed JIS Information that the JCF receives an estimated 5,000 to 9,000 calls per day, the overwhelming majority of which aren’t emergencies.
“We actually wish to enchantment to our residents to empower and educate their neighbours, buddies and youngsters to not name the quantity in jest. We now have a queuing system, so it’s the first name that’s despatched that shall be answered. Someplace down that queue could also be a really critical life-threatening name that we lose, as a result of we didn’t get to it due to the variety of calls coming in,” SSP Francis stated.
He famous that the Police will use ethical suasion, however they may quickly be armed with laws to cope with the longstanding concern.
“There may be laws that’s on the best way to deal with with all of this, and there’s additionally the technological development that we’ll be capable of establish those that are doing this. However earlier than we even get to that place, we wish to urge residents to keep away from utilizing the road and not using a affordable trigger,” SSP Francis stated.
He famous that the JCF sees an uptick in prank calls through the hours after faculties are dismissed.
“There may be this pattern within the afternoon and we name that the height time when youngsters come residence from faculty. We even noticed on one eight-hour shift the place about 4,000 calls have been obtained. We do know that generally the calls are made accidentally; for instance, folks can pocket dial, however individuals have to be conscious,” SSP Francis stated.
In the meantime, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Growth and Logistics Portfolio, Dr. Kevin Blake, stated individuals want to grasp the severity of the influence when prank calls are made to the emergency quantity.
“The phrase emergency means one thing to the JCF. It means somebody is in want of assist, and also you may assume it’s enjoyable, as you don’t see the hurt ultimately, however individuals have misplaced their lives as a result of we couldn’t get to them in time, due to prank calls. So dad and mom, monitor your youngsters, and for everybody, permit emergency calls to undergo, as a result of that’s what they’re.” Dr. Blake stated.