This is the typical scene of many a busy report room, where officers are stretched to the limit, and are subjected to a tremendous amount of pressure in attending to visitors and handling public telephone calls at the same time.

But the public enquiry line 2828-7400 in Wan Chai Report Room no longer rings from 8 am to midnight. Under a pilot project known as Enquiry Call Handling Outward Service (ECHOS) introduced in November 2004, all the incoming calls on the line are automatically diverted to the Police Headquarters Communication Centre (COMCEN) of the Information Systems Wing on the sixth floor of the East Wing of Arsenal House, where they are handled by Police Communications Officers. From midnight to the next morning when the Wan Chai Report Room is less busy, the calls are diverted back to the station, where they will be handled.

The ECHOS pilot project is the brainchild of Superintendent Tony Chin Chi-chung of Information Systems Wing. Tasked with the job of reviewing and revamping the functions of PHQ COMCEN in mid-2004, he came up with the idea for PHQ COMCEN to provide a value added service by utilising both the skills and experiences of Police Communications Officers.

Mr Chin pointed out that with modern telephone call forwarding and conferencing technology, public enquiry calls to a police report room can be received elsewhere. "Supported by information retrieval capability, most public enquiry calls can be answered at a location not within the police station. By using information in CIS and DS2, enquiry cases can be referred back to the DVIT on duty or PEN messages can be left for the investigating officers of the relevant cases who will report for duty later. For non-emergency calls, which require police attendance, Incident Reports will be opened on behalf of the report room for divisional consoles' direct dispatch, whilst emergency calls will be forwarded by way of telephone conferencing to 999 consoles for prompt police response. Following discussions with Wan Chai Divisional Commander Chan Fung-kau, the enquiry call handling procedures were fine-tuned, with local knowledge incorporated, such as vehicle obstruction black spots," he explained.

For Mr Chin, the ECHOS project in Wan Chai has produced a "three-win situation". "The project not only enables Police Communication Officers to brush up their knowledge and skills in handling non-emergency calls made to the report room, but also helps relieve report room staff's pressure of handling a large number of public telephone calls every day, thus enabling them to devote more time and energy to attending to the people visiting the report room in person. The quality of the services to both walk-in and phone-in customers has therefore improved, " he noted.

The project is also well received by Wan Chai Report Room staff. "Nowadays I can concentrate on receiving reports or entertaining requests from members of the public in the Report Room, without the distraction and disruption of dealing with incoming calls. We are definitely providing better services in the Report Room," said a member of the staff. As a matter of fact, after expiry of the pilot scheme, Wan Chai Division requested that ECHOS will be maintained.

Chief Police Communication Officer Wong Pak-ling said: "It's very difficult to say 'no' to the request. After all, the project is very much in line with the Force's motto of We Serve with Pride and Care."

Mr Wong went on to say that Police Communications Officers worked in shifts to handle the public telephone calls to Wan Chai, which average 100 per day, from 8 am to midnight.

"My staff have clear guidelines and instructions for handling the calls, and they liaise closely with the Wan Chai Report Room and HKI RCCC. So far, the pilot project has been working smoothly. After my officers have acquired more local and geographic knowledge, their services will be further improved," he added.

Mr Wong is convinced that the project has definitely improved services to telephone callers. "When you have a team of officers specifically tasked with the job of looking after public telephone calls, the caller can really sense, over the phone, the kind of attention he or she is getting, as well as the effectiveness and efficiency with which their calls are being handled."

In conclusion, Mr Chin pointed out that, based on Wan Chai's call rate and provided that resources are available, PHQ COMCEN is capable of extending the ECHOS project to other busy report rooms.

PCO Leung Kai-hong answering telephone calls to Wan Chai Report Room