BENGALURU: Our 112 emergency helpline operated by the Police Commissioner’s office has seen a significant increase in crank calls this year.
Figures released by the Integrated Command and Control Center revealed that 669 crank calls were received from January to March 2024.
During the same period last year, there were 455 crank calls. 2022 this quantity was 446. An average of 800 to 850 crank calls are received from the public per day.
What is a cank call?
Crank calls are different from normal complaint calls, some miscreants call the emergency helpline and give false information to pass the time or for fun. Officials said such calls waste precious time and resources of the department.
Integrated services firm, Bharat Vikas Group, with its 180 staff, two-thirds of whom are women, answers calls to the toll-free number 112 operating here in three shifts 24×7.
A staff member who spoke about this said, “About 99% of crank callers are men, some of them are drunk. Only women who make such calls are mentally disturbed. We have seen an example of a male caller making 60 such cank calls in a single day. Such cank callers handle calls in the office. They call to talk to women.
Women staff are sometimes verbally abusive or receive unspeakable abuse. If these calls are received by the male staff, they will immediately cut off the call while listening to the voice.
Despite constant crank calls, our staff never slacks off in their work. Although there are many crank calls, few of them are genuine. We work for these genuine calls. For true emergency callers, no number is blocked. Every call must be answered. Another source said that calls peak between 6.30 pm and 1 am when crimes occur.
When genuine calls are received the police station under the complaint is alerted and the Hoysala team is asked to visit the spot immediately even if there are minor problems. A small argument between a couple or between neighbors can end up in a big crime. So, we take everything seriously.
Picture-strange calls
Picture strange calls to complain to the helpline. A caller once complained that a neighbor was smoking. Another called to complain about someone littering in front of his house. Is this also important.. He said that such complaints come under public nuisance.
Action to control crank calls: Commissioner of Police B. Dayananda
Police Commissioner B. Dayananda replied to the question about the large number of crank calls, ‘Such calls are inevitable. Every call needs to be given priority. We have done our best to block repeat callers who simply make calls. Call takers are also handling them better now. He explained that we have a geo-fencing system at the call center here so that only Bangalore-related calls are received.
