Police get 1.8m hoax calls on helpline

Rawalpindi CPO says 75% of calls turned out to be phony

RAWALPINDI:

Rawalpindi police received around 1.8 million hoax calls on its emergency helpline 15 this year so far.

Of the total 2.4 million calls received by the helpline 15, 1.8 million calls turned out to be bogus and phony. This showed that 75% of the calls were a hoax and only 25% of calls were with genuine concern.

In a tweet, Rawalpindi City Police Officer (CPO) Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari said: “This year, Rawalpindi police and the emergency helpline received 2.4 million calls and out of the total received calls, 1.8 million calls turned out to be bogus and irrelevant. Thus 75% of the calls were bogus and irrelevant and 25% of the calls were related to the actual emergency.”

Bukhari said that “we take every call very seriously and try to ensure a prompt response. “Please do not make bogus and irrelevant calls for the sake of the affected people who may genuinely need help,” he added.

The police officer also appealed to the citizens to abstain from making unnecessary calls on the emergency helpline.

Rawalpindi police continue to register cases against hoax callers but there seemed to be no let-up in bogus calls.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2022.