By Du Peng
　　
　　At the 110 Emergency Call Center of the Command Center under the Xi’an Public Security Bureau, the most important work is simply talking over the phone. Unlike criminal or cyber police, the officers here style themselves phone attendants, or talking police.
　　Though women officers, regular and auxiliary, made up 75% of the police force in this government agency, their workload is as demanding as their male counterparts on the front lines. As public needs for police services increase over time, the types of emergency calls have diversified, and the emergency calls have grown in number. To meet the increasing demand, these female officers are constantly exploring more efficient ways.

　　Accuracy
　　One second faster in response means one more minute of safety for the public.
　　As a rapid-response platform, the "110" system is directly crucial to the safety of life and property. Thus, quick response is of overriding importance. While speed is the top priority, it must be underpinned by accuracy. Only with accuracy can speed be effectively achieved.
　　At 7:55 PM on October 13, 2024, officer Wu Mengjie received a call from a 10-year-old child who said "Dad is hitting Mom"and requested immediate police intervention.
　　"Sweetie, to help your mom as quickly as possible, try not to cry, okay? Can you answer a few questions for me first?”
　　"Okay,"the child replied, holding back tears.
　　"What is your address?"
　　With the address confirmed, Wu asked, "Are you calling from a smartwatch? Is anyone else around you?”
　　Once all details were verified, Wu told the child to wait at a nearby restaurant while immediately dispatching officers to the scene, asking them to contact the restaurant to ensure the child’s safety.
　　"The reason we asked whether the child was using a smartwatch and whether there were businesses open nearby is that, in past cases, police callbacks couldn’t connect due to smartwatch settings,"explained deputy director Zhang Kai of the 110 Emergency Call Center, after officers swiftly ensured the safety of the family.
　　"Under stress, callers will provide incomplete information, and our officers will delay gathering key details while comforting the caller. But now, these potential issues can be completely avoided. Our Xi’an 110 Emergency Response Guidelines standardize communication procedures and dramatically cut response times,"said Zhang.
　　During peak hours, each attendant has to handle up to 160 emergency calls per shift.
　　The Xi’an 110 Emergency Call Center has seen numerous cases where ambiguous calls caused delays in responding or prolonged calls impacted the otherwise prompt response to the next emergency. To address this, the Xi’an 110 call center developed the Xi’an 110 Emergency Response Guidelines through the collective effort of all 174 officers. Drawing on years of frontline experience, this manual identifies common pitfalls and standardizes the communication scripts. Obvious is the results: more accurate information gathering, improved response efficiency, and stronger police-community relations.

　　Empathy
　　"110? I’m done with life."
　　Upon receiving such a tearful call, auxiliary officer Che Yangzi’s heart skipped a beat. She knew callers like this one are already on the verge of collapse — one wrong move, and there could be unimaginable consequences.
　　"Please don’t panic. Whatever difficulty you’re facing, we’re here to help. Let’s figure this out together...”
　　Following the protocols outlined in the "110"manual — "build trust and show empathy"— Che responded by listening patiently as the caller poured out the details of their heartbreak, while swiftly coordinating efforts to locate them.
　　"You’ve blurred the line between affection and love. You have simply misunderstood your relationship. Real love is yet to come.”
　　Che’s patient persuasion elevated the caller out of her emotional abyss.
　　"To deal with these emergency calls, the key is to stabilize the caller’s emotions,"Che said. "Even helping them pause to think for a moment can prevent a tragedy. As female officers, we have a natural advantage in communication. Empathy soon creates a closeness.”
　　"Often, callers in emotional crisis are fully aware of the consequences of their actions, but with no one else to turn to, they dial 110, seeing the police as their last lifeline. Our job isn’t just to answer the call. It’s to be worthy of their trust,"said Wang Quan, director of the call center.
　　Drawing on experience, the center has categorized emergencies. They have also conducted targeted practical simulations. During each shift, experienced officers are assigned to handle these calls, ensuring that critical situations are quickly controlled and prevented from escalating further.
　　Communication Capacity
　　What impressed officer Deng Jing the most was a "role-reversal experience,"where officers spent their off-duty hours shadowing police at high-call-volume stations across the city. At the Yanhuan Zhonglu police station under the Yanta sub-bureau, she encountered a dispatch alert: a shop being vandalized requested an immediate help.
　　"The time and location were clear, but how many people were involved in the vandalism? Were they armed? What did the suspects look like? What preparations are to made? All went unknown."Deng recalled.
　　It wasn’t until she went out on a call herself that she realized — by comparing it to the dispatch instructions she usually gave — just how detailed a dispatch order needed to be, and how crucial real-time communication with frontline officers was.
　　"My apartment is leaking!""A tree just fell on the pavement!""Our heating isn’t working!""The construction site next door is way too noisy!”...
　　In a city with a population of 13 million, non-police-related calls like these account for a significant portion of daily 110 calls. While it’s crucial to ease the burden on frontline officers, addressing public concerns promptly is equally important.
　　The center is the first in the province to integrate the 110 emergency line with the 12345 government service platform — allowing non-police incidents to be instantly forwarded to the relevant agencies — and has been further refining its system. This includes tracking their detailed records to ensure non-police cases are routed efficiently to the appropriate agencies.
　　In case of such urgent non-policing incidents as fallen trees, broken manhole covers, pipeline leaks, a fast-track collaboration mechanism has been established between the 110 call center and the 12345 hotline. While 110 responds promptly to the scene, close coordination with 12345 ensures that these incidents are quickly redirected to the appropriate agencies for resolution.
　　To enhance efficiency, an "online + offline"consultation mechanism has been implemented. For urgent public concerns raised online, relevant agencies coordinate offline to address the issues.
　　Over the course of the year, the 110 call center received more than 531,000 non-policing reports, of which over 107,000 were redirected to the 12345 hotline, a transfer rate of 20.15%. The seamless integration between the 110 and 12345 platforms ensures that professional services are provided to the public, guaranteeing every request is properly addressed and responded to.

　　Responsibilities
　　In late 2024, Xi’an 110 received an emergency call from a young mother who suffered domestic violence after a stormy squabble with her husband. In a fit of anger, the caller had drunk a large amount of liquor and threatened suicide with her 5-year-old son. It wasn’t until the early hours of the morning that the police managed to rescue the intoxicated mother and her shivering child on the roadside.
　　"Recent studies show domestic violence cases have been increasing, with situations often becoming more emotionally charged. This makes them harder to resolve peacefully, and many conflicts tend to repeat and intensify over time,"said Li Jing, director of the command center at the Xi’an Public Security Bureau.
　　To effectively prevent and combat domestic violence while enhancing women’s legal awareness and their ability to protect their rights, the command center has developed an innovative, comprehensive rapid-response mechanism under the bureau’s "police-community joint governance"initiative.
　　Focusing on the prevention, resolution, and intervention of domestic violence conflicts, the center has worked with women’s federations and other government agencies to create the Xi’an Multi-Agency Joint Prevention Guidelines on Domestic Violence, forming a new model that combines the police, community, and Women’s Federation efforts to protect women’s rights.
　　Beyond these efforts, the call center has partnered with the market supervision administration to develop the Rapid Joint Response Mechanism for Consumer Dispute Emergencies. Relying on the management system established by the market supervision agencies in various districts and counties, this initiative creates a "110 + 12315"rapid response model, fostering professional synergy in areas like information sharing, social governance, and on-site collaboration.
　　"We firmly uphold a people-first philosophy, adhering to a policy of proactive, preventive, and heart-to-heart policing. Our core mission is to respond to and handle every emergency call with urgency and speed, safeguarding the lives and property of the people. This is the unwavering belief of our 110 Emergency Call Center,"said director Wang.
　　"Our approach is always people-first. We believe in proactive, prevention-focused policing that connects with the community. At our 110 Emergency Call Center, every call gets our full attention—because responding quickly and effectively to protect lives and property isn’t just our job, it’s our commitment."
　　In February 2025, the All-China Women’s Federation awarded the Xi’an 110 Emergency Call Center of the Xi’an Public Security Bureau the honorary title of National March 8th Red-Banner Collective.■
　　
　　(Author: Publicity Department of Xi’an Public Security Bureau)
　　（Translated by Wei Dong）