This Article is From Apr 29, 2013

Police warns people making fake calls on emergency number

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy today warned of initiating action against those making fake calls to the recently launched 'Dial 100 system', an emergency response number.

Of the 50,000 calls made to the 'Dial 100 system', about 20,000 have turned out to be fake, Reddy told reporters here adding, "So far, it is due to ignorance. Henceforth, we will have to come down heavily and action will be taken against those making fake calls," he said.

He said the police were contemplating of deploying vehicles that would exclusively deal with the distress calls for follow-up action.

"Apart from mobile vehicles of patrolling parties, we are planning to equip the 1,681 police stations across the state with such vehicles which can immediately go to the location of the caller," the DGP said.

A centralised system on the lines of an emergency response agency like '911' in the United States was launched in Andhra Pradesh on April 11 to enable the police to reach the complainant within minutes.

Under the 'Dial 100' project, the state police department has partnered with GVK EMRI to build and operate a unified command and control centre for the entire state.

Citizens, seeking police assistance during emergencies, can lodge a complaint from mobile phone or a landline from any part of the state by dialling the toll-free emergency number '100' which are manned by the police department.

Police will track every call, which will also be monitored and judged by a follow-up action, officials had earlier said.

Reacting to another query on creation of Chief Police Commissionerate for Hyderabad city, the DGP said discussions were going on for the merger of Commissionerates of Hyderabad and Cyberabad.

As per the merger plan, the Greater Hyderabad Chief Police Commissionerate will be created to be headed by Chief Commissioner and the area would be divided into Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Hyderabad South, and Cyberabad which will be having more zones and divisions besides new police stations, he added.

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