But over the years, there have been sporadic complaints from the public, also from George residents, who find themselves at death's door when trying to get through to this number for help.
Most of the complainants the George Herald spoke to say that their calls go unanswered, causing them to wait longer than an hour for help, letting suspects escape apprehension.
Captain Malcolm Pojie, the Southern Cape Police spokesperson, this week acknowledged that the situation with the 10111 emergency number remains problematic.
He said the situation is being addressed nationally - the problem with access to the line is not restricted to George. He also mentioned that they are in the process of providing efficient training to their operators in handling and redirecting messages to patrol vehicles.
"Unfortunately, it often happens that the sector vehicle is attending to a complaint elsewhere in its area when calls come in and it takes us longer than we would like it to, to get to the next complaint. However, we want to assure the public that we are dedicated to delivering a professional service to protect all residents in George and our region. I would also like to give the assurance that we will discuss this issue at our next cluster meeting to see how we can improve response time and service delivery in general," said Pojie.
He also issued a stern warning to people, especially the youth, who make prank calls to the 10111 emergency number, to refrain from doing so as it could lead to people in dire need not getting through to the radio control centre.
Who to call if 10111 is not working
- Radio control room - 044 803 4733, or the community service centre number, 044 803 4744.
- Sector 1 ( CBD) - 079 893 9925
- Sector 2 (George North) 079 893 9950
- Sector 3 (George South) - 079 893 9991
- Sector 4 (Blanco) - 079 893 9994
- Sector 5 - (Wilderness) - 079 893 9951
- Sector 6 - (Herold) - 079 893 9976
- Pacaltsdorp - 044 803 9111
- Thembalethu - 044 802 8900
- Conville - 044 803 3300
