Blocking system: Rescue 15 workload reduced by half

More than 100 lines still being blocked every day.

LAHORE:

The number of calls to Rescue 15 per day has come down from between 20,000 and 25,000 to around 12,000 since the introduction of a call blocking system, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Still, more than 100 calls a day to the recently inaugurated Rescue 15 centre in Qila Gujjar Singh are blocked for being misleading.

SP (Mobile) Ather Waheed said police had to take action on more than 400 calls in the city everyday. He said people needed to be careful and only call Rescue 15 when there was a law and order situation. He said when there was no such situation and someone called Rescue 15 helpline in haste, by mistake or frustration, they should not switch off their phones because this prevented the police from calling back for verification.

Duty in charge ASI Muhammad Rafi told The Express Tribune most such callers either cuss at the police or threaten them. He said usually the first bogus call from a number is dropped. The number is blocked if the person calls again.

The ASI narrated a recent incident when a caller from Burewala demanded that police pay him Rs5 million or he would blow up the Qila Gujjar Singh police lines. He said at first the call was dropped. When the man called again the number was traced and blocked.

Misleading calls were another problem the police faced everyday, he said. “At times people report a robbery and when the police go there it turns out be a sham,” he said. The ASI said mostly people did that to get police protection against their creditors. He said all such calls were reported to senior officers.

Kasur district police officer Syed Khurram Ali Shah said a call with misleading information was received from a Kasur-resident who identified himself as Irfan. He reported that a man in Marki Singh Pind was making bombs at his house, said.

He said a police team raided the spot but no such activity was observed there. He said the caller had later turned off his cell phone. He said investigations were underway in the case to trace any illegal activity in the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2011.