Authorities are now responding to crimes and other emergencies within three minutes, the Philippine National Police said yesterday.
PNP spokesman Brig. Gen. Randulf Tuano said police officers are beating the five-minute response rule as they are responding to emergency situations in about three minutes.
Tuano attributed the improvement to the Unified 911 Hotline of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
As the DILG hotline has a feature than can block prank calls, Tuano said police personnel are focused on responding to legitimate calls for assistance.
‘From four minutes and 62 seconds response time, it was shortened to two minutes and 79 seconds,’ he said.
Tuano said pranks calls had dropped from 22,000 to 2,000.
He said there were 4,634 legitimate calls before the hotline was launched on Sept. 11. The PNP recorded 19,761 authentic calls for assistance.
The 911 hotline has a geolocation tracking capability and an active caller directory that can track the location of prank callers.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla urged the public to be responsible in using the 911 hotline, warning that prank calls can hamper response to real emergencies.