Dial 112, for fast, effective aid, hopefully

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

"Metro 112, good morning," an operator from the Jakarta Police's toll-free emergency call center said over the phone.

Helmi, a resident of Cipulir, Kebayoran Lama area in South Jakarta, was on the other end of the line. He made a report on Thursday that his 17-year-old sister Nia Daniyanti had been missing since Monday. He suspected she was kidnapped by her boyfriend Agus, 21.

The operator later sent the report to the desk of Control Command Center who called Helmi back to take more details and advised him to also make a report to the Cipulir subprecinct police as a back up, which he did.

In 15 minutes, the report had been spread to all 500 patrolling police officers and the whole city as the FM 91.1 MHz Suara Metro radio station, which is part of the emergency call system, put Helmi on the air to describe the identification of his younger sister to listeners.

"The emergency call center is effective. Just this afternoon we got a phone call from someone who knows something about Nia's whereabouts. We're still in the dark, but at least there is some progress," Helmi later told The Jakarta Post.

The subprecinct police station itself, he said, still has to make six copies of the report he did on Wednesday before sending it to several police stations nearby. "It is faster through the call center," he said, adding that the system was called Metro Jaya 911 Emergency Assistance.

Since its establishment last July, the city police's emergency call center, also known as Radio 91.1, had become the residents' favorite police service, through which they can easily get the information on security and traffic situation.

"From September up to now, the operators can pick almost 2,000 phone calls in one hour. But only a few are broadcast over the radio based on how much of an emergency it is," Suara Metro marketing manager David J. Pangemanan told the Post on Thursday.

The phone calls, either via fixed line or mobile phone, are mostly emergency cases. However "many are funny", according to the Radio 91.1 operation chief Comr. Dahana, who is one of the "censor officials" to consider whether a case can be put on air to expedite the police work on solving it.

A woman who was about to deliver a baby called the center. The command center sent her an ambulance. Last month, a housewife called in to report that her husband had not come home. The command center just asked her to wait.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanegara insists that Radio 91.1 airs the calls no later than 15 minutes after an emergency call comes in. But he himself realized that the city's busy traffic is a major problem in getting to crime scenes quickly.

But still, David believes the emergency assistance is much more convenient for the community, because "it's only three digits away".