Have you ever found yourself in a situation when you needed to dial 100 and ask for police assistance but decided not to? The answer to this question would be an overwhelming affirmative. Because nothing good ever comes out of dialling 100, right? Well, not really. There is a lot of good that comes out of it.
A Reddit user asked "Has anyone actually called 100 in an emergency? What was your experience?" Replies poured in. As expected, a few were let down by the experience but an overwhelming number swore by it.
ash-9 dialled 100 on four occasions asking for help to stop domestic violence next door. He said that he would call the cops every time he would hear the woman next door getting beaten up. "11/10 would dial again if I have to," he wrote.
Another user said he dialled 100 a couple of times to report accidents and once for the cops to take away a drunk man lying in front of his house. He wrote, that based on his experience, the policemen "follow law and are very professional." User ggoyal also recalled a similar experience when he had to call the cops to deal with a "road rage" incident, and another time to report excessive noise coming from a neighbouring house. Although he had to cough up a few hundred bucks, he wrote, "Every time the matter was resolved to my general satisfaction."
They follow law and are very professional.
"Had an altercation on road," odiab posted. "The other guy slapped me. Called 100. 2 cops arrived in 15 minutes. Took both of us to police station. I was bleeding a little. So they let me go but asked me to come back after checking with a doctor." Another user acknowledged having dialled 100 a couple of times and the police showing up to resolve the issue.
User rancid_rabbit said that he had dialled 100 a couple of times. "Each time they came and never a bother," he posted. "They ask you your name, address etc. No harassment whatsoever. Having said that couple of times I just couldn't get thru. Would definitely recommend calling coz supposedly the calls have to be responded to and they keep a track."
"They were very prompt. Got a follow up call in less than 15 min."
Users chupchap and perseus0807 both said that they had their issues resolved within 15 minutes after summoning the police. "Response has been great all the time," chupchap wrote. "Would recommend calling 100." Similarly, neoranjit said, "Once. To report some loud music that was being played in a petrol pump next door. They were very prompt. Got a follow up call in less than 15 min. Very polite cop."
However, some wrote that their calls to the police were of no help. The police refused to act on their request. The cops refused to help kirikiri because supposedly he had called an hour too early. "Police guy just rejected my complaint saying they take these kind of complaints only after 12 and I called at around 11 at night," he posted.
"The police took Rs. 500/- bribe from me to cancel the FIR."
User kala_pela filed a complaint against an overcharging auto driver only to end up paying a bribe of ₹500 to the police. He says, "In the next morning, the police called me. Both the rickshaw driver and I decided to mutually negotiate (not pay Rs 35/- extra). The police took Rs. 500/- bribe from me to cancel the FIR. The rickshaw driver spent the entire night in the police station. I felt bad for that poor man and poor me." Similarly, the policemen BATM4NN called were bribed by the offenders in the end. "Called 100 at 10pm in some far out village in Haryana near Punjab border, some local drug mafia were after us," he wrote. "Police people called me 3-4 times before finally showing up 30-40 mins later. They were paid up by those guys as well."
While all experiences might not have been rosy, things appear to be much better than what we assume. So, will you dial 100 for help?