We were informed about the matter by a Reader, a resident of Nowogrodziec gmina, who on Saturday, June 9, at around 9:00 a.m., called 112. (The man wanted to report that the bus supposed to take children on a trip had bald tires).
The WCPR dispatcher allegedly told the caller to call 997 so that he would not block the 112 number with a trivial report.
The Reader therefore called 997. As he told us, he did so three times—between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. (Twice from his wife’s phone and once from his own.) The man claims that he called for a very long time and that he heard a normal ringing tone the entire time—not the tone indicating that the line was busy. Yet... no one picked up.
The Reader wonders what would have happened if the matter had been extremely urgent...
We asked for comment from Anna Kublik-Rościszewska, spokesperson for the Komenda Powiatowa Policji w Bolesławcu:
In Bolesławiec, the 997 number is handled by the duty officer of the district police unit, as it is in other districts of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. The duty officer also coordinates the work of police officers throughout the district. It is difficult to determine unequivocally why the caller’s calls were not answered; perhaps the duty officer was carrying out other urgent duties at that time.
On June 9 this year, police officers in Bolesławiec District intervened 52 times [...]. In addition, on that day the duty officer at the Bolesławiec unit received 151 calls, including 49 from the emergency number.
Will the problem be resolved?
The spokesperson adds: “In December 2018, the 997 number in Bolesławiec District will be taken over by WCPR. The work of the Centre’s operators consists of answering telephone reports and forwarding matters to the appropriate units. A large number of dispatchers will ensure that a connection to the emergency number is established every time.”