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| Hanna: Police force’s emergency numbers still malfunctioning |
Taneka Thompson
Guardian Senior Reporter taneka@nasguard.com
Published: Jun 20, 2012
The Royal Bahamas Police Force’s (RBPF) emergency numbers are still malfunctioning, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Hulan Hanna, who could not give a timeline for the system’s restoration. However he stressed that the public can still access police and emergency services through alternate numbers, as technicians from the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) and the RBPF work to reboot the system. “Use the [alternate] numbers, do not let it be said that you cannot get in contact with the Royal Bahamas Police Force or ambulatory services because that is not the case. “We want to say to the Bahamian public that they need to know that they can get in contact with the police at all material times. When we switch back over to our regular lines we will let the public know that,” Hanna said yesterday. The 919/911 emergency call numbers went down a little over a week ago. Hanna said it is unclear if recent thunderstorms or some breakdown in equipment led to the malfunction. “Last week or the week before there was a thunderstorm that came through and impacted a lot of our systems,” he said. “In this instance we were able to get the assistance of BTC. We are reasonably satisfied that our system did not fail but all of the support mechanisms that feed into our systems, that was where the problem was.” Last September the government spent $2.9 million to upgrade to the 919 system. Hanna said once the improvements are complete the public will have quicker access to the police. “I am also pleased to say that millions was spent to upgrade the emergency 911 system so that we would be more accessible to the Bahamian public,” Hanna said. “In short order that is going to be officially rolled out and so the public can look for great things in terms of connecting with its police force. Once this system is up and running we guarantee that you will have more lines available.” Persons who need police or emergency assistance should call 323-0850, 323-0845, 323-0853, 323-0854, 302-8177, or 302-8178. |
