JCF says prank 119 calls from inmates, children and hoaxers strain emergency response

Adults being held in jails, prisons and other secure facilities are among the people repeatedly tying up Jamaica’s 119 emergency line, according to Assistant Commissioner of Police Gary Francis.

Francis said some people in confinement contact the 24-hour police emergency communication centre as many as 200 times in a single day, although their calls have no proper emergency purpose. He made the disclosure on the latest episode of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s FORCE4GOOD podcast.

The assistant commissioner, who commands the emergency communications operation, said the centre is central to the JCF’s coordination, communication and emergency response work. Its operators, he explained, must constantly separate nuisance calls and routine matters from genuine situations where lives may be at risk.

According to Francis, 119 receives about 5,000 calls each day. He said roughly 65 per cent are prank or crank calls unrelated to policing, while another 15 per cent may concern police business but do not amount to emergencies. Only about 20 per cent, he said, are true emergency calls.

Francis said adults who keep calling the line, especially those held in places of confinement, have been known to reach the 200-call mark in one day. “Literally 200. Not exaggeration, because they have nothing to do,” he said.

He urged members of the public, including children, to stop misusing 119. Francis said the nature of the calls means police emergency operators must be trained to remain patient and highly tolerant, even after dealing with hostile or unserious callers.

He noted that the next call after a nuisance call could be a genuine emergency, so training, supervision and balance have to be maintained in the communications centre at all times.

Superintendent of Police Stacey-Ann Powell supported Francis’ concerns, saying the police emergency communications unit has to manage both strange requests and calls from people with more harmful intentions. She described the unit as a formation that every other formation in the JCF must contact.

Powell said the office is used for calls for service and for recording timeouts, depending on the particular road situation. In the middle of those responsibilities, she said, operators still receive requests as minor as calls about a cat stuck in a tree and requests for police to remove cats.

She said prank calls range from attempts to distract police officers during operations, to people trying to order food from a fast-food restaurant, to callers asking the police to help with homework.

With the summer months approaching, Powell urged parents to pay closer attention to how children are using phones. She said children have contacted 119 for homework help and, in recent times, have also made bomb threats.

Powell reminded the public that people can be held accountable for calling the police or fire department to report incidents that do not exist. She said the JCF is lobbying for stronger laws and currently relies on the Offences Against the Person Act, while hoping Jamaica will soon have specific legislation to address prank calls, as exists in other countries.