The control room of Mumbai police received nearly 1.6 crore calls from citizens last year, with complaints ranging from noise pollution to parking issues to troubles created by drunks and drug users. That’s a 120 per cent jump from the calls recorded in 2016.
The rise in the number of calls to 100 – the police control room – is a sign of growing awareness and trust in the force, said officers. The city police shared the data with activist Shakeel Ahmad in response to his application under the Right to Information Act.
Most calls were received during the last four months of the year when a number of festivals are celebrated. Majority of the gripes is about loud music, firecrackers and traffic-related problems caused by pandals.
Manned by a 48-desk centre at their headquarters in Crawford Market, cops at the control room responds to calls 24x7 on all days of the year. Apart from their specified task, the team members regularly guide citizens.
“Daily, we receive around 300 to 400 calls from people who want to discuss issues for which they should be approaching civil courts instead of the police,” said a police officer. The control room receives an average 40,000 calls a day.
The officer attributed the spike in calls to specialised helplines for children and senior citizens using the same system.
The officer said, “Owing to the number of calls, we have started using global positioning system which can help us trace the caller.”
