‘Islamabad police receive 2,700 fake calls daily’

IGP orders officials to book people frequently making prank calls

ISLAMABAD:

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Qazi Jamilur Rehman has appealed to the people to not make hoax calls, saying it may put someone’s life in danger.

“If we are sent to a hoax call, it doubles our professional engagements and slows our response to the genuine criminal activities,” the IGP said while visiting the 15 helpline office on Monday. The 15 in-charge briefed the IGP over the functioning of the department and explained the procedure regarding connectivity between the caller and police in case of emergency.

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He told the IGP that out of 88,589 phone calls, the police had received around 81,226 fake ones during the last month. Only 10 per cent of phone calls were genuine, he added. He further informed the capital police chief that the police had received approximately 2,700 hoax calls each day which not only wasted the time of the operator but also caused a delay in responding to an emergency situation.

Rehman stated that police emergency department 15 played an important role in receiving and transmitting calls from the public. The IGP directed the 15 authorities to book the frequent callers and proceed with legal action against them to avoid such occurrences in the future.