Free emergency number regulations published

Just to comment on the 10111 fiasco. On 2 occasions I had dealings with that utterly useless number. The first time was a potential hi-jack situation. I got a cell phone call from a very distressed relative who gave me the street name. The "operator" refused to help me because I couldn't tell her the name of the nearest cross-road. The irony is that that particular road in one of the shortest roads in that area. Eish, me thinks the police don't have maps any more. The second time, I was present when someone I know tried to report a case of domestic violence. Guess what, she was given the same treatment...

Edit: There was also an incident at a police station where I wanted to report a threat of kidnapping. (It was a marriage gone sour). As you can imagine, I was a bit distressed and forgot to greet the officer in a friendly manner. I received a lecture from him that in African culture, "we first greet each other".... Well, I turned around, threw my hands up in the air and stormed out of that police station! So excuse me if I'm not "part of the solution" any more.
 
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I try to stay away from the 10111 switchboard and call the stations directly. The nearest station to me is Diepriver Police Station in Cape Town and I've had the unfortunate opportunity of calling them twice. They are quick to answer the phone and very helpful, however the response time I've witnessed from them isn't great, (20 - 40) minutes roughly. They are heavily understaffed however what they did do was notify the local ADT vehicle on patrol and the local bicycle patrol who arrived promptly.
 
Why can't government be more specific... "The call has to be answered in 30 secs"... it should be "The call needs human response or direct contact with an operator within 30 secs."

Otherwise "Thank you for calling 112... please hold"
 
zamrg said:
I try to stay away from the 10111 switchboard and call the stations directly. The nearest station to me is Diepriver Police Station in Cape Town and I've had the unfortunate opportunity of calling them twice. They are quick to answer the phone and very helpful, however the response time I've witnessed from them isn't great, (20 - 40) minutes roughly. They are heavily understaffed however what they did do was notify the local ADT vehicle on patrol and the local bicycle patrol who arrived promptly.
Click to expand...

EDIT: I actually think that the police at least tried to do their best in your case.
 
I once phoned 10111, but I was a kid ... and we were running because some street boys were trying to rob us ... and when we phoned 10111, they asked us where we were, we said running on Atholl Street in Waverly, and they just hung up on me ... bastards ... I don't care if I'm 4 years old ... help me out ... if its a hoax, arrest me ... but don't hang up on me!!
 
I've phoned 10111 before, a few times actually, I've been told by the police (when they did eventually arrive) to rather phone my closest police station and not 10111 because it's like a middleman if so to speak.

You call 10111, they get the details, they contact the closest police station, relay the details and then they must dispatch units out to you.

So... miss the 10111 number and yeah, make it faster.

The only problem is that many people don't bother trying to take note of the closest police station or can only remember 10111.

I admited that, when I had the 'situation' I didn't think twice, I dialled 10111, now I have 2 on my phone as 0214678002 which is CPT Central's number and then I have 0214678078 and 0214678079.
 
If you're in the Cape Town region, take a look at http://www.capegateway.gov.za/eng/directories/facilities/3805 for a comprehensive list of local police station numbers.

I have a few numbers saved in my phone which are the areas I'm usually around.

Camps Bay: 021 438 5804
Cape-Town Central: 021 467 8155
Claremont: 021 657 2240
Diep River: 021 710 7300
Milnerton: 021 528 3800
Sea Point: 021 434 2345
Wynberg: 021 799 1300

I'm not sure how accurate they are since some of these (taken from the capegateway website) differ to the ones I have in my phone.
 
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