SAFETY PROBLEMS
Police admit to millions of dropped 10111 calls, service centres severely understaffed
Over the course of three years, millions of calls to the police emergency number, 10111, were dropped. Worse, 10111 staffing is only at around 40%.
The state of 10111 call centres has been called into question after Police Minister Bheki Cele revealed that only around 40% of the required 10111 call centre personnel are deployed, and that millions of 10111 calls were dropped over the past three years.
The statistics
South Africa’s 10111 police call centres are meant to be staffed by 3,344 people. However, as of 1 April 2022, only 1,315 staff were assigned to these offices.
North West has the lowest number of required personnel, with just 39 staff of the 328 meant to be deployed.
Available data from the past three financial years recorded more than 6.3 million dropped 10111 calls across South Africa.
Dropped call data from the Northern Cape, Free State and Limpopo were unavailable. Some centres in other provinces were also unable to provide data and dropped call data from certain centres were unavailable for specific years. This means the number of dropped calls could be much higher.
Dropped calls can refer to calls that could not be answered, which might have been due to callers ending their calls before being transferred to 10111 operators. They can also refer to calls which were ended by the caller after they had been transferred to a 10111 operator.
On the police agenda
“From the onset of his appointment, the national commissioner General Fannie Masemola has prioritised the capacitation and resourcing of police stations and units. The 10111 call centre is among the priority areas as the first line of entry for emergency purposes,” said police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.
“A number of the 10,000 (newly trained) constables will also be deployed to render services at the 10111 call centres. With more police officers being recruited over the next three years, the SA Police Service is confident it will be able to bring staffing levels to required standards,” Mathe told Daily Maverick.
Parliamentary question
Cele released the 10111 statistics in response to a parliamentary question asked by Andrew Whitfield, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of police.
Whitfield said in a press release: “I will be writing to the chairperson of the portfolio committee on police to request that the national police commissioner prepare a comprehensive turnaround plan for 10111 centres across the country within 30 days, to be tabled in Parliament when it reconvenes.”
Whitfield believes the high number of dropped calls could represent crimes that were committed, because the SAPS could not answer the calls or did not answer them in time.
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“The impact on safety is extremely negative and leaves people with less and less confidence in SAPS,” he said.
“South Africans feel increasingly vulnerable and 10111 should be able to assist. Doing oversight around the country, I encountered many people complaining about 10111, and that is why I started looking into this issue,” said Whitfield.
“I believe that insofar as SAPS is concerned, the crisis at the 10111 centres is emblematic of the broader management crisis within the police service,” he said.
He said the 10111 centres “need to be fully staffed with well-trained staff who care deeply about helping others… 10111 centres need to be upgraded with modern state-of-the-art technology and the necessary backup systems to avoid load shedding.”
Messy data
The data on 10111 calls could get messy, said David Bruce, a researcher on policing.
“Some of the calls that police receive at these 10111 centres are from people in emergency situations. But there is quite a variety… there are a lot of hoax calls, prank calls, things like that,” he said.
It was also worth considering, even when there was a response from 10111, how long it took for the police to respond, and the quality of their response, he said.
“Calls not related to SAPS emergencies are classified as hoax, nuisance and abusive, non-police related emergency enquiries,” according to page 157 of the SAPS’ 2021/2022 annual report.
“The large number of calls that are not related to SAPS emergencies place a heavy burden on personnel at 10111 command centres to render an effective service,” the annual report reads.
“Non-police-related calls have an impact on the prioritisation of legitimate emergency calls and hamper service delivery.”
Negative reputation
The 10111 centres, particularly in Gauteng, “have been plagued with problems over many years. Long delays in answering phone calls, untrained staff… lack of communication, poor response time etc are just some of the many problems that have plagued the centres,” said anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee.
“This is a service that can be between life and death, and if it’s ineffective or it’s not fulfilling 100% service delivery levels, we have a serious problem,” Abramjee continued.
Many people have lost confidence in the police due to poor experiences with 10111, Abramjee said.
“Very often the criminals get away because they take advantage of this type of situation, knowing that the police response time will be slow, or poor, or will be non-existent.”
The ability of the SAPS to police effectively is hindered not just by issues regarding the 10111 call centres.
“The police are hopelessly under-resourced in terms of manpower, vehicles and resources. And that is making it difficult for them to fight the high levels of crime. Criminals and criminal syndicates are taking advantage of the situation. The budget cuts in the police have contributed largely over the years to the increased levels of crime and the poor policing,” said Abramjee.
To remedy the situation, he said there needed to be greater political will, stronger leadership and management, more resources and effective crime prevention strategies.
Community safety
The under-resourcing of 10111 centres negatively impacts community safety.
“The basic rule in SAPS is that all requests for assistance received by the police from members of the public must be recorded and attended to as quickly as possible,” according to Han-Marie Marshall, acting head of the Western Cape department of community safety.
“The severe under-resourcing of the 10111 call centres, and the 895,280 dropped calls in the Western Cape over the past three financial years, are contrary to this basic rule.
“While no formal research was done… it must have a serious impact on community safety as it leaves communities defenceless due to the police’s inability to respond to emergencies amidst the unrelenting tide of crime and violence sweeping across South Africa,” Marshall said.
“[Our] department has, over the past number of years, submitted to the national minister of police, the policing priority and need to address the issue around answering phone calls and the 10111 call centres specifically.
“Should neighbourhood watch members be unable to contact the police, it is indeed an issue of great concern, as it leaves these members unsupported, which places their lives in danger,” Marshall added. DM
“Police Minister Bheki Cele revealed that only around 40% of the required 10111 call centre personnel are deployed, and that millions of 10111 calls were dropped over the past three years.”
Our people are literally dying because of this calmly delivered failure by Bheki Cele.
Please please please give us people in government actually capable of doing some form of useful sh*t.
The police are a joke, like all other state-provided services. Instead of dealing with actual crime, they set up fake roadblocks and harass citizens for bribes. They have been shown the way by the ANC crime syndicate.
Public: Hello, hello. I have an emergency!
SAPS: Shaaaaaarrrrrruuuuuup!!!
it is very clear that Cele is incompetent as are his generals and station commanders. as SA is fast becoming the crime centre of the world, if it has not achieved that unwelcoming status yet, that the one aspect of life in SA is people’s security. Only 40% of emergency centres are manned and they are not doing at all well. unforgiveable that our President has not made this a number one priority together with electricity and putting half his ANC in jail.