112 Emergency Call Center in difficult position due to hoax calls

The 112 Emergency Call Center, which plays a critical role in responding to emergencies in Van, is experiencing difficult times due to hoax calls. It has been determined that 80 percent of incoming calls are hoaxes, and one individual alone occupied the line by calling 8,500 times throughout the year.

The 112 Emergency Call Center Directorate, which began operations in 2020 under the Van Governor's Office, has received approximately 6 million calls to date. It was announced that the center, which answers ambulance, police, gendarmerie, fire, and other emergency calls, faces a 80 percent rate of hoax reports.

Center officials reported that the most striking incident was an individual calling the line 8,500 times throughout the year. In addition to this individual, children and people with phone repair issues also unnecessarily occupied the 112 line. Administrative fines have been issued to individuals who constantly occupy the vital line.

“THE CENTER RECEIVED 6 MILLION 772 THOUSAND CALLS IN 4 YEARS”

Speaking on the subject, 112 Emergency Call Center Deputy Director Banu Yeğinaltay stated that unnecessary calls delay interventions for real emergency situations.

Stating that the center began its operations in 2020, Deputy Director Yeğinaltay said:

“We are currently continuing our service with 7 stakeholder institutions. From 2020 to 2024, we received a total of 6 million 772 thousand calls. Of these, 5 million 672 thousand were hoaxes, and 1 million 100 thousand were genuine calls. In 2020, we had an 83 percent hoax call rate. However, with the awareness campaigns and activities we conducted for both children and adults, we reduced this to 80 percent. In 2024, our total number of calls was 1 million 370 thousand; 1 million 100 thousand of these are considered hoax calls, while 270 thousand are considered genuine calls.

We are appealing to parents here; we ask them to inform their children that they should not call 112 unnecessarily and that 112 should only be called for emergency situations. Because we cannot know if a citizen having a heart attack at that moment is our relative, and while a child is joking around, we are keeping the call of a person who is truly fighting for their life on hold."

“CALLED 8 THOUSAND 500 TIMES THROUGHOUT A YEAR”

Call Taker Seher Tunçtan, who expressed that children in particular occupy them many times, said, “Sometimes citizens whose phones are broken call here and occupy us that way. Apart from that, there are those who order food. Sometimes people use this for the purpose of joking. Especially on weekends, children call many times. Unfortunately, there is one citizen. When we last checked the system, they had occupied the line by calling here 8,500 times throughout a year” she said.

“WE RECEIVE VERY INTERESTING REPORTS”

Police officer Sedat Demir, one of the call center employees who said that a citizen calls them almost every day, said, “We have very interesting reports. The most interesting of these is a woman. She constantly calls during the night hours. She says there is a 'hodja' (religious healer) who does amulets and that the hodja has sent djinns to haunt her. Therefore, she says she is complaining about both the hodja and the djinns. Even though we have warned the individual many times, she continues to make the same reports” he said.

News Source: 12punto