PE crisis as too few man 10111 call centre

A STAFF crisis at Nelson Mandela Bay’s 10111 call centre has resulted in hundreds of calls going unanswered over the last few weeks with Monday being particularly bad – 440 calls went unanswered.

Insiders say staff shortages, due to people booking off sick, had been a problem throughout December and was approaching “a crisis situation”.

Contingency plans have been put in place with officers pulled from fighting crime to man the phones and computer systems.

The problem started at the beginning of December when several staff members starting booking off sick and failed to arrive for work.

Police insiders yesterday said that on Monday alone more than 1 100 calls were made to the call centre with 440 eventually being hung up as the calls went unanswered.

Since the beginning of December an average of 400 phone calls per day went unanswered and were classified as “abandoned”.

Provincial top brass claim service delivery was not hampered and they were monitoring the situation.

The 10111 centre services the entire Nelson Mandela Bay district and is considered the “heart of the police” as it is directly connected to emergency services. It dispatches first responders, detectives and any other specialist unit as needed.

Yesterday, just five staff members arrived for duty with only one official manning the 20 odd incoming phone lines.

By late morning, administration clerks had been roped in to help.

Officials yesterday revealed that over the festive season as few as five people were manning all the computer systems, control desks and phones.

To boost the number of calls answered specialist functions were abandoned by operational officials who instead manned phones.

Officials said on Monday no police officials could test vehicles, identification numbers of wanted suspects, stolen firearms or stolen property such as laptops and cellphones.

Also on Monday, an administration clerk was appointed acting control centre supervisor due to staff shortages.

One official, who declined to be named, said management had roped in untrained officials from surrounding stations.

On Monday – and yesterday – five staff members were booked off – three on sick leave and two on family responsibility leave. Other staff have taken maternity leave and annual leave resulting in only three staff members being at work on Monday.

Another official said the call centre should have at least 18 trained members per shift.

On Monday it took 10111 operators two hours to arrange an ambulance, tow truck and detectives to visit a crash in which two police vans had collided.

“The delays do not only affect the public. It affects police officers on the road. If there is no one, or untrained staff manning the radios you will simply not get speedy assistance or help,” the official said.

“You cannot put clerks in a situation where they are dealing with life or death situations and don’t have the experience or knowledge,” another official said.

Police spokeswoman Brigadier Marinda Mills argued that there were “sufficient members and employees to deal with all incoming calls” but confirmed that she was aware of Monday’s staff shortage.

“Service delivery is not hampered and I can assure the public the situation is closely monitored by this office.”

Mills added that they suspected someone was “maliciously providing misinformation” to the media.

“Measures have been put in place to address the shortage by utilising administrative staff,” she said.

“Major or intensive training is not required for the capturing and dispatching of complaints as contingency staff deployed perform the same function at stations from their respective radio control rooms.”

Mills said usually there were 16 to 18 members per shift. She said shortages of staff were due to circumstances.

“This is not a frequent occurrence. When such occurrences occur, personnel on rest days are utilised and remunerated.”

The DA’s Bobby Stevenson said he had been informed of the situation and asked that immediate action be taken.

“One welcomes the fact that police have called in extra people to assist but this highlights an underlying problem. Action should be taken to ensure highly trained personnel are present and on duty to deal with emergency crises.”

SA Police Union provincial spokesperson Eric Jinikwe said no industrial action was under way but that staff had merely booked off.

“The shift that is currently on duty is supposed to be manned by several people but only five are currently at work.

“Some people have taken unplanned leave and others normal leave. This is a normal practice in any industry and as such management is trying to address the issue.” —