The Shenzhen police are going to expand the coverage of the city's emergency call system by providing English-language services to foreigners, according to Zhang Xicai, general commander of the emergency command center under the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, yesterday.

The center will recruit in February six English-speaking operators for the emergency call system, which can be accessible using the hotline number of 110. Candidates are expected to be overseas returnees, or college graduates proficient in spoken English. They will receive training before 24-hour services are launched for foreigners by May.

"We initiated the English-speaking service because we have had many complaints from foreigners, who could not get direct help from the police in case of emergencies. We've also received an increasing demand from local universities, companies and organizations," said Zhang.

When the service is available, foreigners can dial code "110" to report robberies, fires and traffic accidents. The hotline can also be used for other emergencies, such as first aid, as the operator can connect the help-seeker with the relevant agencies. 

"The '110' emergency call system is a major body in Shenzhen's emergency handling. We expect to develop it into an overall emergency call and processing center, just as the '911' system in the United States and the '999' system in Britain," said Zhang.

Shenzhen is among the earliest cities in China to have integrated the reporting systems for robberies, fires and traffic accidents, after such integration was proposed by the Ministry of Public Security in early 2004. Before the integration, the number "119" was used for fires and "122" for road accidents.

At a press conference in Beijing yesterday, the Ministry of Public Security required that the integration should be completed at China's city and county levels by the end of this year.

"'119' and '122' can still be used, but all incoming calls to the two codes are handled by the '110' system. In this way, police resources can be greatly saved," said Zhang.

According to Zhang, Shenzhen has adopted a unique emergency system in China, which is similar to the one used in Hong Kong. This system enables all reports to be processed by the emergency command center directly, instead of being handled by a hierarchy of police bodies, such as district bureaus and police stations. This has increased the response speed from the police. In most areas in the city, the police can arrive at the location of the incident within five minutes after receiving a report, while the average speed in the country is 10 minutes.

Since last September, the Shenzhen police have located a case according to the code on the nearest lamppost, which is the first police location system of its type in China.

Editor: Yan