The South Sudanese police service has set up a fully-staffed emergency call centre for the first time, with round-the-clock coverage so that citizens can call any time of day to report an emergency.

At present the service is available only in the national capital Juba, though there are plans to eventually extend it elsewhere. The call center located in Buluk neighborhood is supposed to be active 24 hours per day and will dispatch units to respond to reported crimes.

Juba residents are encouraged to call ‘777’ to report a crime or incident.

Police officials say the number is toll-free, meaning that cell phone companies have agreed not to charge callers who make emergency calls.

UNDP South Sudan says that they trained about 500 police personnel to manage the new emergency call centre. The training was paid for with funds from the Japanese government.

Speaking at the launch event last week, the Inspector General of Police Pieng Deng Kuol also revealed plans to name streets of Juba so that callers can identify their location to police for rapid deployment in response to threats.

The Juba Town Council will need to be involved in order to name the streets.

Prior to establishment of this call centre, citizens wishing to reach the police by phone usually had to call to the private phone number of a particular commander or officer they knew, but not normally to a fixed official number. Senior police officials complained of receiving calls day and night on their own mobile phones. 

Photo: Police personnel at a training for the emergency call centre (UNDP South Sudan)

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