Bangkok Police Force Plans To Revamp 191 Emergency Hotline

[webfact]

Police Force Plans to Revamp 191 Emergency Hotline

In an effort to increase the efficiency of its workforce and handle the overflowing number of prank calls, the Bangkok Police Force is planning to revamp its hotline.

Instead of hearing the stern tone of police officers who are not so equipped in handling calls, professional operators will now be assisting emergency phone calls.

TAN Network’s Juarawee Kittisilpa has the story.

The Center for Communication and Command; or better yet known as the 191 emergency call center, is one of the first help lines that Thais’ evoke during urgent situations.

Operating since 1994, it is responsible for 12 million people in the capital.

With 60 lines available to support the incoming calls, it currently has only 8 police officers to answer over 17,000 calls per day.

This is a major obstacle for the center to maintain its work efficiency.

It is literally putting the right man to the right job and maximizing efficiency of the force.

Officers would be able get back to their normal police duties of busting crimes and upholding the social order instead of having to sit and take calls.

Police officers assigned to operate the emergency calls are trained to respond to different problems in certain ways, as they are responsible to know which department they need to contact.

Hiring outsourced operators will help save the force time in having to train new officers after every promotional season.

Often times, officers are forced to deal with a serious number of prank calls, which they deem is a great deal of concern.

On average it takes 10 minutes to respond to a call and get to the scene, but the amount of prank calls and the limited manpower is making response to emergency situations more time consuming.

In near future, Thais will likely see some changes in the 191 emergency call center, which seeks to avert problems faster than before.

With professional operators in place, fake callers will have to deal with the consequences of taking the police force lightly.

Juarawee Kittisilpa, reporting for Thai-ASEAN News Network.

-- Tan Network 2011-02-10

[elshaheen]

Also upgrade Tourist Police hotline from Thai speaking to English speaking for expats living and working in Thailand.

[jayjay0]

That works out to over 88 call's per hour being answered by each operator.

I am suprised they didn't ask us if we would like to buy a bridge.

[jimbeam1]

Is this a spoof post?

Officers would be able to return to their normal duties...... Scamming an extortion

Will help the force not having to train new officers after the promotion season??

Put the right man to do the job........ It has been operating since 1994. Ok

Which department they need to contact......... Fire, Police, Ambulance. Hmm difficult

With PROFESSIONAL OPERATORS In place, fake callers will have to deal with the consequences of taking the police force lightly.

Hmm Yeah ok

jb1

[Boater]

Also upgrade Tourist Police hotline from Thai speaking to English speaking for expats living and working in Thailand.

just them answering would be nice

[mark45y]

Plenty of staff. How long does it take to say,"my bphen lai."

[TheWalkingMan]

"With 60 lines available to support the incoming calls, it currently has only 8 police officers to answer over 17,000 calls per day."

17,000/8/24 = 88.54 calls per person, per hour. These guys are fast. Amazing Thailand.

Edited February 10, 2011 by TheWalkingMan

[surangw]

hard part would be getting to the scene of an emergency with traffic and no one willing to pull out of the way of emergency services

[TheLaughingMan]

Oh dear god I'd much rather they stayed at the phones then resume their normal duties of theft, kidnapping, extortion, rape and murder.

[Bagwan]

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