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Video: Calling 999? Here's how Dubai Police handle emergencies

Dubai - Watch how a patrol car quickly reaches the accident site in less than 12 minutes.

Dubai Police's strategy is to answer 97 per cent of the emergency calls received on 999 within 10 seconds or three rings. Usually they reach the site within 12 minutes. 
The Operations Room located at the Dubai Police headquarters receives about 10,000 calls daily on 999. Nearly 120 officers work in four shifts round the clock to take those calls. On an average there are 20 call-takers on a given shift, and have 400 vehicles at their disposal to handle emergencies.
Brigadier Omar Abdulla Al Shamsi, Deputy Director, General Department of Operations, said, "Every call-taker has two screens. One screen has a city map on it. Our system shows the location of the caller and the location of the police resources on duty such as patrol cars, rescue vehicles, ambulances. When a call is received, the call-taker can click on the cameras near the incident, view what's happening in that area and react instantly."
The Operations Room uses a system called IMS or Incident Management System. The flow of work at the Command Control Centre is such that the call-takers collect and analyse the information received, such as the location, intensity of the accident, number of injuries and so on. The information is then passed on to the dispatchers who assign a police resource to that incident. Resources include patrol cars, ambulances, fire brigades and rescue vehicles.
1.34 million calls were received by Dubai Police on 999 in the first six months of 2017. However, Brigadier Omar Abdulla Al Shamsi points out that most of them were for queries and not emergencies. Only in 58,999 cases, patrol vehicles needed to be dispatched.
Dubai Police urge people to not call 999 unless it's an emergency and dial 901 for regular queries. Other ways to reach out to Dubai Police include sending an SMS to 999, reporting an accident on the Dubai Police app, pressing SOS button on the Dubai Police app and contacting Dubai Police on social media.
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