Hearing-impaired Hongkongers urge police to upgrade 992 SMS emergency service

Charity Silence says number should support multimedia as many users struggle to write text messages in an emergency

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From left: Christine Chu Chi-yan, Joyce Pun Chung-see, Connie Lo Chun-you and Kane Cheung Chung-kit make a sign which means ‘deaf people’s right to call the police’. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 9:01am, 18 Dec 2017Updated: 9:01am, 18 Dec 2017

Deaf residents of Hong Kong have urged the police to upgrade their 992 emergency SMS hotline for the hearing impaired to support multimedia, after the service drew criticism over long delays and a cumbersome texting process.

Christine Chu Chi-yan of Silence, a charity that serves the hearing impaired, said her group was poised to lodge a formal complaint with the city’s equality watchdog about the obstacles faced by many people using the 992 number.

The service, akin to the 999 emergency call function, was launched in 2004 and targets those with speech and hearing impairments. Users must be preregistered to use the service, which allows them to send text messages to the police in emergencies.

Chu said she often experienced long delays and lamented that the police seldom arranged for sign language interpreters to accompany officers responding to cases concerning those with hearing disabilities.

In October this year, the 35-year-old sprained her leg at home and texted a message to 992 which said: “I fell down at home and can’t walk. Please arrange an ambulance for me.”

Kane Cheung shows a record of his message to police in June. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

A police operator replied after one minute, asking for her location and whether she was able to open the front door for ambulance officers. The back-and-forth exchange via text message took three minutes. The ambulance arrived at her house in about half an hour, Chu said.