NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle said today the manpower at the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s COVID command center was quadrupled last week in response to a notable increase in calls from the public.
With certain exemptions for essential workers and businesses, the wider public have had to call for authorization to leave their homes for any purpose beyond the essential services and activities outlined in the previous emergency order.
“We had some issues last week after the hurricane, but we resolved those,” Rolle told Eyewitness News.
“We were having extra numbers of calls, so we increased the manpower from five to 20 to be able to take the calls. We increased the number of telephone lines to 19.
“So, we actually had 19 and BTC assisted us with the calls, so if one line is busy it automatically routes the call to another line; one of the others, so persons were able to take calls even if they were not at the desk.”
The commissioner was unable to state how many calls the command room receives on average, noting that call volumes were not recorded.
The volume of calls to the COVID command center is expected to decline as the country partially reopens next week Monday, particularly among some Family Islands where there will be no curfew and full resumption of commercial activity.
In April, the Royal Bahamas Police Force added a WhatsApp line to its COVID-command center following reports that many people were unable to make contact due to the high volume of calls.
The command center can be reached on 311, 326-7871, 326-6346, 356-9455, 322-1051, and via WhatsApp on 806-6852.
The center can also be reached via email: covid19@rbpf.bs.
Last week, the police force also advised those seeking exemption letters to email the commissioner of police at cop@rbpf.bs.
While some have complained of being unable to get through to the center after multiple calls, others have reported being able to reach officers on the contact numbers.
