BRIEFS. crime

Prank calls plague new 911 emergency service

The new 911 Emergency Management System received upward of 30,000 calls, less than 1 percent of them valid, during the first four days of the service’s launching.

System Director Marta Sandoya said the situation is very serious, since the call center can only serve up to 14 calls simultaneously.

“While a delinquent is monopolizing the time of one of our operators, a person who really needs help may be on call waiting,” she said, explaining the system’s intention is to dispatch emergency aid within 15 minutes of receiving a call.

That time goal may be not be possible now, with the number of false alarms forcing operators to attempt to verify the caller’s identity and location before sending help.

Government Innovation Minister Gaspar Tarté said the issue represents a cultural problem. “The Panamanian people need to act more intelligently and seriously than other countries that also report these irregularities,” he said. “We need to understand that the misuse of this service can result in someone’s death.”

Sandoya added that his office was working on drafting a law that would impose “harsh” punishment on those who made prank calls, and hoped lawmakers would regard it as a crime equal to that of threatening a person’s life.

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