Royal Thai Police Commissioner-General Somyot Poompanmuang has ordered an urgent improvement of the service of 191 Emergency Call Center, to ensure its handling of public calls during the New Year holiday. The assignment was made when the Commissioner-General presided over a workshop held to develop the 191 staff efficiency in taking public calls. He said he had tried calling the 191 in the middle of one night and found some difficulties to reach the service. He noted it was necessary for the centers to have sufficient personnel.
He said besides that the call centers in 25 provinces still need improvement in terms of telephone line systems and equipment for call recording. According to a survey, around 15 per cent of telephone lines were unable to access the 191. However, the international standard requires that the number of such calls must be less than 5 per cent. Operators must pick up a call within 4 seconds, and report the head office within 1 minute. Patrol units serving around urban areas must reach the caller within 5 minutes and 15 minutes for those serving outside Bangkok. Pol Gen Somyot said he also planned to tighten law enforcement covering the emergency call service in order to deal with a large number of fake calls and perturbing calls.
