"I'm in shock, in depression now." A woman saw someone was ill and called the police, but the reaction was unexpected

Illustrative photo. Photo: Lookby.media

The resident of Fanipol runs her TikTok under a nickname appropriate for the situation — Good Fairy. In the video, the woman said that at 05:50 in the morning, she was rushing to work. On one of the streets, she noticed a helpless person crawling.

"I got scared, thought it was a dog. But I approached, saw that it was an old man," describes the concerned blogger about what happened. "I asked who he was, he remembered nothing. I helped him to his feet, but he was unstable. I got confused and called the police. Because in any case, the police must provide assistance and call an ambulance."

The 102 dispatcher reacted to the call. The woman didn't have time to wait for the patrol: she was rushing to catch her electric train. But the police called her back and informed her that the person had been found. A little later, the video's author continues, a local police officer called her.

"And he just rudely attacked me: why didn't I call an ambulance, where did I find him (referring to the elderly man. — Note: "Zerkalo")? He said: "I deal with criminal cases," — the resident of Fanipol describes that conversation. —

So, according to the local police officer, I, as a citizen of my republic, acted incorrectly, despite not being afraid in the dark that I might be attacked. I checked who it was, what it was. Maybe it could have been some maniac, murderer, drug addict…

I provided help and called the police. He was standing, he had dementia, apparently no memory. The person left home and got lost, he's under 80 years old. He (the local police officer. — "Zerkalo") will come to me in the evening, and I still have to pay some fine for a false call."

The police officer's reaction shocked the woman.

"I'm in shock now, in depression, I don't know… Taking time off work, going [to the police]..." — she says with concern in her voice in the video. — "I did a good deed. The man might have lain there for another hour, frozen, or had a heart attack."

The next day, the woman uploaded another video, in which she told how the meeting with the police officer ended. According to her, the officer came that same evening. He wanted to take an explanatory statement about where and when the concerned citizen found the elderly man. This was not the same man who had called her earlier.

"He apologized for the police officer, whose name or surname he did not disclose," says the blogger. "He simply asked for the phone number of the person who had called me."

He also informed that the elderly man was sober. He was taken to the station and an ambulance was called.

"I understand that the person who yelled at me in the morning lacked the conscience to come and take my explanation," the woman reflects. "Instead, a very polite young man came. He explained [how it should have been done], apologized for his colleague. I showed the calls, how I called 102, how they called me back."

"The local police officer is absolutely wrong"

To understand whether the concerned resident of Fanipol could be held accountable for a false call, "Zerkalo" turned to Sviatlana Halavnieva, a lawyer at the human rights organization "Viasna".

She reminded that several emergency service numbers operate in Belarus. For example, 101 — firefighters, 102 — police, 103 — ambulance. There is also the universal three-digit number — 112, but not everyone remembers it in a stressful situation, the interviewee notes.

"If a person in an emergency situation dials not the specialized service, but the one whose number they remembered, then this is a normal situation and definitely not a violation," Sviatlana explains. "In this case, dispatchers working on short numbers must either transfer the information to colleagues themselves or switch the caller to them."

The interviewee says that in Belarus there is indeed administrative responsibility for a knowingly false report — Art. 19.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO).

"It sounds like this: 'A knowingly false report that led to emergency services taking response measures.' The most important phrase in this wording is 'knowingly false.' What does this mean? It means that the person knows in advance: what they are reporting is untrue," the interviewee elaborates on the details. "But if you report accurate information, but not exactly to the right place, it cannot be called a knowingly false report."

There is also Art. 19.1 (Minor Hooliganism) in the Code of Administrative Offenses.

"It is quite broad because anything can be categorized as hooliganism. In cases of calls to emergency services, it would more likely apply when, for example, children call and prank," the lawyer gives an example. "But if a person got confused and called the wrong number — that's not hooliganism."

Sviatlana Halavnieva also draws attention to the "Instruction on the Procedure for Receiving Reports," approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and to Art. 22 of the Law "On Internal Affairs Bodies." It follows from these that the police are obliged to accept information about incidents, even if it is not within their competence. In this case, the report must be transferred "to the authorized body."

"The local police officer who threatened the woman with a fine is absolutely wrong. I think this is his reaction to a stressful situation. No responsibility should be threatened here," the lawyer comments on the Fanipol case. "The work of all emergency services is interconnected. If a person in a panic remembers any number and calls, that's good. And then the specialists will figure out whose competence it is."

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