Why you mustn’t hang up when calling 113

The Luxembourg police have issued a statement following an incident that has caused a public outcry. A resident told the media that it took him 15 minutes to get through to the emergency number 113 and report the theft, whilst the alleged perpetrator was still at the scene. However, a detailed analysis of the call logs carried out by the police press office painted a different picture of what had happened.

According to the system’s data, the caller attempted to contact the dispatcher three times, making a critical error by hanging up while the call was on hold. The sequence of events was as follows:

• First call: recorded at 15:25:09; the caller waited on hold for 42 seconds before hanging up. At that moment, all available lines were busy with other calls.
• Second attempt: at 15:27:02, the caller waited for a response for 1 minute and 27 seconds, after which they hung up again.
• Third call: at 15:31:08, the call was answered by the dispatcher after 53 seconds.

It took just under seven minutes from the moment the number was first dialled until the call actually began. The main reason for the delay was a simultaneous surge in the number of calls to the 113 helpline.

Law enforcement agencies would like to remind you that, in an emergency, you should under no circumstances hang up. The call-routing system operates on a first-come, first-served basis, and each new call placed after hanging up automatically places the caller at the very end of the queue. Only by keeping the line open can you ensure the quickest possible response from an operator when the network is under heavy demand.