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Following is a question by the Hon Cyd Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, in the Legislative Council today (April 22):
Question:
According to a press release issued by the Police on February 21 this year, the various Regional Command and Control Centres (RCCCs) received a total of 2 323 016 calls in 2014, of which only 1 289 475 (about 55.5 per cent) were genuine. The remaining 1 033 541 were nuisance or misdialled calls. The Police have all along been appealing to the public not to misuse the 999 hotline service, and members of the public in need may look up the telephone numbers of police stations in various districts on the police web site or the Hong Kong Police Mobile Application (App) so as to seek assistance directly from police stations. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) how the 999 Emergency Telephone System and sub-system (ETS and sub-system) tell if calls are genuine, nuisance or misdialled calls; whether the systems have been equipped with an interactive voice response system for diverting or routing non-emergency calls to different police districts or other hotline systems of the Government;
(2) of the details of the manpower deployment for answering 999 emergency calls in various RCCCs; whether the staff members responsible for answering calls have received training on the Police Force Ordinance (Cap. 232) and relevant legislation, and whether the Police have provided guidelines to these staff members to assist them in identifying if the calls are emergency calls and the nature of such calls;
(3) of the service performance of the Police in responding to 999 emergency calls last year, including the number of calls answered within nine seconds, and the numbers of calls from Hong Kong Island/Kowloon and from the New Territories the response time of which were within nine minutes and 15 minutes respectively;
(4) how ETS and sub-system handle the situation where all the 999 hotlines of an RCCC are engaged and there is a sudden surge of calls; whether the way of handling is to automatically route calls to other RCCCs or government hotline systems; if so, of the number of additional staff members that can be temporarily deployed to answer the routed emergency calls and the time needed for making such manpower deployment; of the impacts of the automatic call routing measure on call answering time and on the time required for sending police officers to the scene;
(5) how many times for which ETS and sub-system have been updated since their introduction; of the details of the expenditure involved in each updating exercise, and when the systems' serviceable life will expire; and
(6) how many times for which the App has been updated since its launch; of the expenditures involved in its development and in each updating exercise, and the respective numbers of downloads of various versions; of the number and nature details of cases seeking assistance through the App in each of the past three years and, among such cases, the number of those identified as nuisance or missent cases?
Reply:
President,
According to section 10 of the Police Force Ordinance (Cap. 232), the duties of the Police are, inter alia, preserving the public peace, protecting personal safety, and preventing crimes and injury to property. Upon receipt of requests for assistance from the public in case of unforeseen or emergency incidents, the Police shall perform their statutory duties by immediately deploying officers to the scene to understand the situation, provide assistance or conduct investigation.
The Police have been appealing to the public to use the 999 hotline service only for emergencies, and not to misuse the 999 hotline service. Misusing the emergency hotline would not only affect Police's efficiency in handling emergencies, but might also endanger the lives of people-in-need by delaying their requests for police assistance from getting through.
If needed, members of the public may also seek help directly from police stations in various districts where most non-emergency cases and requests for assistance can be promptly handled. A list of contact numbers of police stations is available on the police website (www.police.gov.hk) or the Hong Kong Police Mobile Application.
The Government's reply to the question raised by the Hon Cyd Ho is as follows:
(1) Currently, there are three Regional Command and Control Centres (RCCC) of the Police for answering 999 calls via their 999 consoles. Upon receipt of such calls, RCCC officers will determine the nature of cases in accordance with internal guidelines. For emergency cases, RCCCs will immediately dispatch police officers to handle these cases. As regards non-emergency cases, callers will be advised to contact respective district police stations for assistance. If cases should more suitably be dealt with by other government departments, callers will be advised to approach relevant government departments directly.
(2) and (4) The Police will ensure sufficient manpower for answering 999 calls. Currently, there are in total about 70 operators specifically responsible for answering 999 calls at 999 consoles of the three RCCCs. These operators work on shifts to provide 24-hour service. In case of a sudden surge of calls in a particular RCCC, other operators of the same RCCC will help answer 999 calls. If necessary, the 999 Emergency Telephone System (ETS) can also switch some 999 calls to the other two RCCCs. The Police will flexibly deploy in-house manpower to assist with the answering of 999 calls in order to maintain service delivery in this regard and ensure prompt handling of emergency cases.
RCCC officers are well-trained on relevant ordinances, guidelines, work procedures, and the service of answering of 999 calls etc. Also, the Police have in place stringent operational guidelines for RCCC officers to determine whether a call is emergency or not as well as the nature of cases, with a view to ensuring proper handling of all cases.
(3) The Police have been striving to respond to all 999 emergency calls within the performance pledge of nine minutes in Hong Kong and Kowloon, and 15 minutes in the New Territories. The response time is measured from the receipt of a report by a RCCC 999 console until police arrival at the scene. According to the Police, most emergency cases are attended to within the pledged response time.
In 2014, a total of 2 323 016 calls were received by RCCC 999 consoles of the Police. Amongst these calls, over 90 per cent were answered within nine seconds; and there were 90 532 emergency cases requiring police assistance. Of these emergency cases, 98.7 per cent were attended to within the pledged response time.
(5) The third generation of the 999 ETS has been in operation since 2004. As the system has been in use for many years, the hardware and software of some sub-systems are no longer supported. The Police are preparing to refresh the relevant sub-systems in order to extend the service life of the 999 ETS as far as possible. The refreshing exercise is initially expected to complete within one year. The expenditure is included under the provision for the "Replacement of Command and Control Communications System for the Operations Department of the Hong Kong Police Force" approved by the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council in 2001. The Police will carry out regular maintenance and checks of the system to ensure its reliable and stable service.
(6) Since its launch on July 18, 2012, the Hong Kong Police Mobile Application (HKP Mobile App) has gone through six enhancement versions. The initial development cost of the App was $750,000, and the expenses of its subsequent enhancement were absorbed by in-house resources of the Police. As at March 31, 2015, the accumulated download count of the App exceeded 120 000.
The e-Report Room is featured in both the HKP Mobile App and the police website for reporting of non-emergency cases or enquiries by members of the public. From July 18, 2012 to March 31, 2015, there were about 113 000 cases of requests for assistance through the police website and the HKP Mobile App. The nature of case includes lost property, noise nuisance, telephone nuisance, unjustified issue of fixed penalty tickets, vehicle obstruction, complaint against the Police, and reports on cyber crimes etc. Amongst all the cases, about 9 000 were duplicated or missent messages.
Ends/Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Issued at HKT 14:17
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