Good public response to Police Emergency Service
Ridma DISSANAYAKE
There is a good public response to the Police Emergency Service
1-1-9, the Police said. The Police Emergency Service receives around
3,450 phone calls, of which 1,600 are public complaints.
Last year, the Emergency Service received over 400,000 phone calls.
These included public complaints, inquiries, stressful calls and
re-inquiries.
The Police emergency service 1-1-9 was established in Sri Lanka at
IG�s Command and Information Division, Mirihana on November 8, 2004. Sri
Lankans and foreigners too can contact the Police in case of an
emergency through 1-1-9 and Police response team will promptly call over
at the scene. In case of an accident,in man made or natural disaster
condition public can contact the Police through 1-1-9 by any telephone
in free of charge. At the inception of this service, there were only a
few people who knew about it. But with the passing of time, the number
of calls increased as it gained in popularity.
The police has categorized the phone calls which are received to the
1-1-9 in to three categories as URT messages, NURT messages and CITR
messages. Under these categories, murders,disputes between two
parties,fires, accidents and protests belong to URT messages and phone
threats are categorised as NURT messages. Drug deals,suspicious deaths
and mal-practices of Police personnel are categorised under CITR
messages and transfered as UTR messages according to the situation.
In 2004, there were only two service units with 10 phone lines which
has been expanded to 20 phone lines from March, 2012 to provide an
efficient service.
Police have deployed a 24 hourspecial police team with a jeep and
motor bike in each and every police station to respond to public
complaints.
The Police urged the public to contact the emergency service only
during an emergency and not to make nuisance calls or false complaints
against others. |