Prankster headache for 10111 staff

THE 10111 emergency call centre in East London is inundated with 60 to 80 prank calls a day, mostly from child pranksters.

The number increases during school holidays when the children are “bored” at home, national Deputy Police Minister Bongani Mkhongi was told yesterday while on a walkabout to view operations at the centre.

Provincial police spokesman Captain Khaya Tonjeni said call centre infrastructure was one of the most expensive, with a budget of over a billion rand.

“Thus it is significant that the deputy minister visits to check if the structural investments are operational in the fight against crime and also for himself to familiarise how things work in our endeavours against crime.”

Centre commander Captain Andrew Hack said most of the children called and swore at the officers while others simply giggled over the phone. “When we call them back to ask them why they were using such foul language, they swear more.”

Hack said most of the calls were first-time pranksters while some callers were regular. “Basically they just look for our reactions.”

Hack warned that all the calls were traced and recorded and that they were sent to the provincial police head office in Zwelitsha for the pranksters to be fined.

However, Hack said no fines had yet been issued to transgressors.

The centre is separated into three sections – a Telkom phone operations desk, despatchers’ desk and a supervisor’s desk on an elevated platform in the middle of the office.

Calls are picked up by a Telkom operator who logs the complaint into the computer system before transferring it to a despatcher.

The despatcher then assigns a vehicle to the complainant. Hack said the role of the supervisor was to oversee the work done at the centre by workers. “The supervisor also verifies the authenticity of the call and follows up to make sure that a vehicle is despatched.”

Mkhongi, who is in the province on a five-day visit, was accompanied by a high-level delegation of police bosses from the SAPS national head office in Pretoria.

The officials included protection and security services divisional commissioner Lieutenant-General John Sithole and visible policing divisional commissioner Lieutenant-General Nobesuthu Masiye.

Acting Eastern Cape provincial commissioner Major-General Zamuthongo Mki also attended. —