Police roll out 1,275 counter phones to improve emergency response

_______________

Police have rolled out 1,275 counter phone lines at operational and sub-county police stations across the country in a major effort to improve response time to crime and emergencies.

Addressing journalists at police headquarters in Naguru on Monday, April 20, 2026, police spokesperson Rusoke Kituuma said the initiative is designed to eliminate delays caused by informal communication channels.

“We encourage the public to utilise our dedicated counter phone lines for timely reporting. These contact numbers are accessible on our official website,” Kituuma said.

He cautioned the public against contacting individual officers personally known to them for assistance, warning that such practices often delay official response and undermine coordinated police action.

“During investigations, we have realised that a lot of time is lost when victims do not have direct police contact. They instead go through friends, and by the time information reaches police, valuable time has been lost,” he added.

Kituuma urged citizens, especially property owners, business operators and farmers, to proactively obtain and store contact numbers for police units in areas where they live or have interests.

He said community liaison officers (CLOs) and public relations officers (PROs) have been tasked to popularise the use of these numbers within communities.

The contacts are also being uploaded onto the police website and the UPF mobile application, currently accessible to Android users.