Humour me: 78% of emergency calls are hoaxes: PSCA

As many as 438,800 calls out of a total 561,815 were pranks

LAHORE: At least 78% of all calls to the 15 emergency helpline during the last two months were a hoax, said the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) on Tuesday.

PSCA stated that during the months of January and February, they received 561,815 calls of which 438,800 were a hoax. Only 10% of the calls, which is 51,806, were about genuine actionable concerns, while 5% of the calls, which is 30,486 only sought information and consultation.

They added that 4,815 calls reported theft and burglary while 1,194 reported eve-teasing and harassment. Thirty nine calls concerned cases of attempted murder, 494 reported kidnappings and 1,520 were about aerial firing. Furthermore, 30 calls reported loudspeaker violations, 194 reported blocked roads and 84 calls were made concerning bike theft.

For integrated services such as Rescue 1122, the fire brigade and traffic management concerns, they received 3,945, 423 and 7,716 calls respectively.

One a more reassuring note, PSCA stated that 129 vehicles were successfully recovered and returned to their owners who had reported them missing on the Public Safety android application, in addition to calling the helplines.

PSCA condemned the misuse of the helpline and urged citizens to be more responsible.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2018.