ADULTS in confinement — jails, prisons, and other facilities — have been outed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Gary Francis for bombarding the 24-hour police emergency communication centre/119 with calls up to 200 times daily for no good reason.

Making the disclosure on the most recent episode of the Jamaica Constabulary’s FORCE4GOOD podcast, Francis, who is the commanding officer in charge of the entity, said operators employed to the hub, which is the focal point of coordination, communication and emergency response within the force, are kept busy daily sifting those non-emergency calls from real life and death alerts.

“The truth is that at on average 119 receives an average of 5,000 calls daily. Of those calls, about 65 per cent are prank calls or crank calls that have nothing to do with policing. Another 15 per cent or so may be police-related but not an emergency. And maybe about 20 per cent of those calls are emergency related,” Francis disclosed.

He said “adults who consistently call, especially those who are in the place of confinement,” call a record “200 times” daily.

“Literally 200. Not exaggeration, because they have nothing to do,” Francis stated.

In appealing to citizens, including children, to desist from this practice, Francis said the constabulary has to school its agents to handle the dynamics of these situations.

“Our agents have to be trained to be highly tolerant, lots of patience because if 65 per cent of your callers may be calling with the aggressive tone, etcetera, and the next call may be a genuine emergency… the level of training and balance and supervision, of course [has to be] consistent because the environment is like that,” he said.

Superintendent of Police Stacey-Ann Powell, in supporting the points raised by Francis, said odd requests from callers and others with more nefarious motives jockey for attention from the “formation that has to be contacted by every other formation within the JCF”.

“So whether it is a call for service or to record their timeout depending on the particular situation being on the road, police emergency is the office that is contacted,” she said, noting that in the midst of juggling these critical responsibilities, “we do get calls and as simple as probably a cat in a tree, to have the police assist in removing cats…in real life”.

“On a serious note though, when it comes to the prank callers, it varies from persons want to deter the police who are on an operation to persons wanting to order food from a fast food restaurant to persons wanting us to do their homework,” Powell said.

Noting that as the summer months were approaching, parents to be particular vigilant about the phone usage of minors.

“That is one of the areas that we are affected by. You are at home or you are at work as a parent but your child is calling us to assist with homework and in recent times, issue bomb threats,” she pointed out.

Said Powell, “Just to remind members of the public that when it comes to calling, whether it is the police or the fire department, reporting on matters that do not exist, you can be held accountable. Whilst we are lobbying for stronger legislation at this time, the Offences Against the Person Act is a legislation that we use, but we’re hoping that very soon, like other countries, we’ll have a specific legislation that deals with prank calls.”