If there is an emergency rescue the city police must make, it should be for its helpline, 100 . TOI tracks five ways in which the police helpline fails people in need.
Delayed Response: Callers cannot reach emergency dispatchers – who are the crucial link between people in crisis and those offering services – when they dial 100. Those who dial the number receive an automated welcome message and are then asked to dial 1. “Drunken men chased me at a bus stop a fortnight ago. I panicked and dialled 100. I could not hear the welcome message and waited for someone to answer, but the call got cut. No one called me back,” said 19-year-old Sandhya S, a student of a college in Nungambakkam. She managed to walk into a medical store to escape the men. Many callers say it takes them at least 15 to 30 seconds just to connect to staff at control rooms. It takes longer to get help.
App Challenges: Police have asked people, particularly women, to use Kavalan Uthavi app. Police say this app will send an alert to the control room and emergency contact sharing live location is the emergency button is pressed. “Think of how much time it’ll take to unlock the phone, open the app and press the emergency button,” said Dharmar R, a techie. “The US has an advanced internet protocol-based system that allows information to flow seamlessly from public to the 911 network. Why can’t digital India have similar services,” he asked.
Lack of Geolocation Tracking: Helpline staff hardly call back people or try to track the caller’s location. When a caller does not speak after dialling 911, they consider it a blank or prank call. Senior police officials said the protocol has been developed to eliminate ‘needless calls’ blocking lines. Experts said that in most countries help is dispatched even if the caller is silent.
Language Barrier: The service fails to cater to a diverse population, as most staff speak only in Tamil or English. Language barriers can hinder crucial information exchange, leading to delays, misinterpretations and potentially tragic outcomes.
Public Awareness: Over the past several years, police have not taken any public awareness campaigns to prevent misuse of emergency numbers and legal consequences of it. Educating the public about appropriate usage can help minimise unnecessary calls.
WHAT THE POLICE SAYIn 2019, DGP J K Tripathy told TOI that automated messages work as a gateway to prevent unintentional pocket dials, prank calls, and bot calls. Automated messages were given as an immediate solution. Nothing has been done since then to make the helpline accessible.
On Saturday, a senior police officer said, “We filter calls to help real victims. There is only one control room in operation at the Chennai city police old office building. At least 18 to 20 police personnel are assigned at the state police control room in one shift and they function in three shifts. These emergency calls were diverted to the city control rooms concerned.
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