The police do not seem to be to blame for Malta’s embarrassing rate of unanswered emergency calls, according to latest statistics.

In September, 11,500 calls made to emergency line 112 ended in less than five seconds – before the police were able to answer. The vast majority of these are callers who dial 112 by accident and hang up immediately.

Last year, The Sunday Times revealed statistics showing that 33 per cent of emergency calls remained unanswered – shameful when compared to other EU countries which have rates of between zero and six per cent.

But after spending a morning in the recently beefed-up control room at police headquarters, The Times can confirm that many callers do not give police a chance to pick up.

“It’s better if you let the police answer and say wrong number,” assistant police commissioner Josie Brincat says, half-jokingly. At least, that way, the call is not registered as unanswered.

But the problems with the emergency line are even more far-reaching because the vast majority of calls received should never have been made. Statistically, the control room receives more than one call a minute – an alarming rate considering that in reality there are considerably fewer than 1,440 emergencies a day on the island.

It is even more shocking when, according to EU-wide surveys, less than 20 per cent of Maltese are aware the pan-European number exists.

Many of the calls received are pranks or mistakes. Children often play around with mobile phones and call by accident, while many elderly people dial 112 instead of telephone directory 1182 or other hotlines.

“Even if the mobile does not have a sim card it will still make the call,” Mr Brincat points out, adding that 112 is often automatically a speed dial number.

He says that a seven year-old-girl recently made 170 calls in one day, prompting the police to have to visit her house and ask her guardians to make her stop.

Another caller, who was mentally ill suffering from paranoia, made 15,000 calls in a month.

Prank callers are also a big nuisance, blocking potential emergency calls. However, this offence can have you slapped with a €23,000 fine which unlike a traffic contravention is listed in one’s police record. One recently called from a Paceville phone booth and was caught in the act since police cars were immediately sent to his traced location expecting to find an emergency.

A problem Mr Brincat claims to have solved is that of internal police calls. Thousands of calls used to be made by policemen asking for information about their shifts since the number was quicker to dial than the other numbers they should have used.

“We have become very strict with these. We do not tolerate such calls anymore,” he says.

But what is more difficult to change is the mentality of people making calls unnecessarily, for instance, to report a small crash or traffic jam.

“If people are hurt, it is important to call 112. But most of the time it makes more sense to call a warden.”

But he also complains about lonely people who call to have a chat or because they have a problem that could easily be solved by a family member, such as to change a light bulb.

One caller heard by The Times said: “I have lots of old furniture. How can I give it to charity?”

Each call is logged and categorised to help in the compiling of statistics as well as to assist investigations in cases of repetitive nuisance so action could be taken accordingly.

Last March, a spokesman for the European Commission told The Times it was still deciding on whether to take action against the Maltese authorities for the poor service that was reported through statistics.