Hong Kong Police on Sunday appealed to the public to use the 999
hotline service for emergencies only.
According to a Police press release, in the first half of this
year, the number of 999 calls answered by the Police Regional
Command and Control Centers was 1.25 million, of which only 36
percent were genuine calls and 64 percent were nuisance or
misdialed calls.
The spokesman of the Police said that misuse of the emergency
hotline would unnecessarily engage operators of control centers and
delay the handling of genuine emergencies.
"Any abuse of the service will not only affect the efficiency of
the Police in handling emergency situations, it could endanger the
lives of people at risk by postponing their access to the service,"
he added.
The spokesman said that Police stations could also promptly
handle most crime reports and requests of a non-emergency
nature.
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2006)
