The association we have with emergency calls is when we hear playbacks of audio clips on reality television or crime investigation television programmes. The cool calm and collected voice often takes a call from a person in distress, who has just suffered some form of trauma.
“What is the nature of your emergency” and “What is your address” are the first things you hear as the person answers the phone. The problems that people phone up with are varied. Some people request ambulances to deal with illnesses, such as heart attacks. Some people request assistance from the police to deal with, for example, break ins or a fight. Others call in over domestic violence, or to report thieves at work on cars. The list goes on and on.
The Police Corps yesterday said that in 2013, the emergency 112 number was used a total of 500,000 times – more than one call per person per year for the whole country. It is surprising that some 20,000 people actually dialed the wrong number. Although it is hard to believe that people can actually dial 112 as a wrong number, what is even more preoccupying is the number of hoax calls that were made to the number – a staggering 11,000. A social media post was doing the rounds last week, where a young toddler dialled the emergency number in the United States and asked the operator for help with his mathematics homework. The operator tried to make the boy understand that the “help” he needed could not be given on an emergency number. In the end, the operator complied and helped the young child, who was given a good talking to by his mother a minute or so later, when she realized what she was doing. But not all stories are so sweet. When pranksters do pick up the phone and lodge prank reports, they are not only wasting the time and resources of the police, the health service’s ambulance fleet and the civil protection department, but they are also potentially putting people’s lives in danger. If one person in dire need of help cannot get through to the emergency services because a prankster is on the line, then that person could possibly die.
The Malta police have launched a number of promotional initiatives that promote the correct use of the number, including a Youtube video and a media information campaign. The message is: “a call on this number could mean the difference between life and death.”
People should only call 112 in genuine emergency cases when lives, health, property or the environment are at risk. Such cases include serious traffic accidents, fires or break-ins.
The police also said that 112 is not an information hotline and also pointed out that children should not be allowed to play with mobile phones. The incorrect use of this number can put at risk someone who really has an emergency as the authorities might dispatch resources where they are not needed.