New emergency call centre in Bishkek helps connect citizens and police
A faster response
"Before Call Centre 102 was established," explains Sergey Kalevatov, Head of the centre, "calls would be put through to the officer on duty and an assistant in one of the district police stations, and they had other tasks to attend to. There were only two phone lines - sometimes both busy - and the connection was often bad."
After researching and discussing with experts from the OSCE Police Assistance Programme (PAP) in Kyrgyzstan, police managers decided to establish one call centre covering all of Bishkek. Furnished with the necessary equipment, the new call centre can register incoming calls on six different lines, record conversations and locate callers.
Four operators now work around the clock, taking calls and registering cases in their computers, from where they are sent to the appropriate district police station. In an emergency, the nearest police patrol car is also informed.
"Now we receive many more calls, and of course, the connections are much better," says Kalevatov. "In addition, recording every call makes it easy to sort out any misunderstandings."
Improving the police image
"Many people in Kyrgyzstan have the impression that the police do nothing to help them," says Evgeny Cherenkov, PAP Operational Programme Manager. "Promoting dialogue and co-operation between the public and the police force is therefore a major focus of our community policing programme.
"Having a police officer at their doorsteps within a few minutes of calling in helps a lot to improve the image people have of the police."
But old habits are sometimes hard to break. Often people call the centre just to make fun of the police. "There is little that can be done about it, as most of these calls are made from unregistered mobile phones," explains Kalevatov.
"Instead, we arranged training workshops to help operators deal appropriately with such harassment. We hope that as trust in the police grows, the number of these calls will decrease."
"You can't take it personally," says Officer Azamat Begaliev, one of the centre's operators. "But of course, we are very happy when people thank us."
Knowing they are there to help
Albina Kubareva has been working at the centre since its establishment. She had received several complaints from a man because traffic police had not removed suspicious-looking cars with blackened windows and no number plates on the street where the president's limousine was to pass through.
"It took quite some effort to convince police officers to go there at four o'clock in the morning and fine the cars' owner. But the caller was very happy when it was done and even wrote me a thank you letter.
"Our work often has a strong psychological component," Kubareva says. "Once I received a call from a young mother in the middle of the night because a stranger had tried to enter her apartment. I informed the district police immediately, but I also stayed on the phone to calm her until the police arrived. She was very grateful for that."
"Although we have to wait for the second opinion poll in 2007 before we can be sure about the impact of Call Centre 102," says Kolevatov, "judging from the feedback of acquaintances and citizens I meet on the job, people are seeing the change and they appreciate it."