Ahead of 53rd National Day: Police unveils functions of toll-free security hotlines, 1500 & 117.

The initiative, the officials revealed, is aimed at strengthening trust and collaboration between the public and security forces, and also showcasing the real-time workings of the critical services.

The tour began at the Headquarters of the General Delegation for National Security, DGSN, where journalists were taken through the functionality of Call Centre 1500, the line dedicated for citizens to report excesses of police officers. 

Inside 1500, the watchdog within the police

Police Superintendent, Sidonine Ediage Ngum, one of the weekly coordinators of Call Centre, explained that 1500 is a 24/7 emergency number that is free of charge. 

“…we have female personnel who answer calls, we have others who are there to register the different calls that we receive,” Ediage Ngum explained, adding that the team also includes a chain of command to ensure accountability. 

“We have a service head who calls the different units where we receive complaints in order to bring rapid solutions to the complainer. Then we have coordinators, who are Superintendents of police, working weekly. Supervisors, Assistant Superintendents, work daily, while operators, either Police Inspectors or Constables, man the lines throughout the day,” she disclosed. 

Ediage Ngum further revealed that the centre receives between 170 and 200 calls weekly, though only about 20 to 25 are classified as serious. 

“Most of the time, people just call to joke. They can just call and say, ‘Send me data, I don’t have airtime,’” Superintendent Ngum lamented.

She however, noted that when a genuine complaint comes in, the response is swift. 

“We have the national telephone book of all the units of national security. When we receive a call that is serious, we contact the appropriate unit. The chief of the unit will call the officers on the field and try to bring a solution to the problem,” she elaborated.

She used the opportunity to also advised the public on how to effectively reach the service.

“When you dial 1500, you need to listen to the operator’s voice prompts. For example, dial 1 to denounce police harassment, dial 2 to give important information, and dial 3 for other services. If you don’t hear these prompts, it means you are not yet connected,” Ngum explained. 

She advised those who call for jokes to desist from such actions and only. “When they are calling to joke, someone in real danger might not be able to get through,” she explained. 

117, the sword against crime

From the call centre at the police headquarters, the media caravan proceeded to the Centre Regional Delegation of National Security at the Ngoa-Ekélé neighbourhood, where Toll-Free Number 117 is based. 

Unlike 1500, the 117 number is used to report criminal offenses and trigger rapid police intervention. The Centre Regional Delegate for National Security, Jouse Ossomo, described 117 as “a rapid intervention team”. 

“117 allows us to relay information to other units that are much further away and may not have the capacity to respond quickly. We also deploy very fast teams pre-positioned throughout the city to respond depending on the severity of the threat,” he said. 

According to Ossomo, the centre receives around 2,000 calls per day, but only 500 are genuine distress calls, the rest are pranks or "phantasy calls".  

He warned about the toll this has on resources, noting that “prank calls cause us to deploy staff for nothing and in the long run, it creates a form of lassitude”.

“When there is a real emergency, officers may hesitate because they’ve been misled too often,” Ossomo regretted. 

He added that crimes frequently reported include car theft, assaults in taxis, rapes, knife attacks, and physical assaults on taxi drivers. 

The police official also revealed that the 117 system also includes a civilian anti-criminal brigade that operates undercover. 

“They mingle with the population, patrol day and night, and intervene where we least expect. This is a force on which we absolutely rely,” said Ossomo.

Challenges and public responsibility

Despite their operational readiness, he said both services face logistical issues. 

“We often have problems due to the theft of CAMTEL cables and power cuts from Eneo,” Ossomo regretted, adding that the “disruptions sometimes give the impression that our services are unavailable, but in truth, we are always working behind the scenes”. 

He called for cooperation from the public stating that “the population must continue to count on 117. We are at their service and ready to intervene in all necessary situations”. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3446 of Monday May 12, 2025