Abandoned 911 calls are tying up police services in BC’s Southeast District, prompting RCMP to ask the public for assistance to slow the alarming trend.
During the weeks of April 6th to 19th, 911 dispatchers based out of Kelowna received 1,936 abandoned emergency calls with 58% coming from mobile devices.
“That’s an average of 138 calls per day in those two weeks alone that requires operators and police officers to track down and verify for emergency,” said Staff Sgt. Troy Gross in a press release Monday.
Those calls required 110 hours of work by operators alone, averaging 8 hours per day, locating and verifying abandoned calls, according to Gross.
“That time is exponentially longer for police officers on the road to follow up,” says Gross.
Operators call back to determine whether a dropped 911 call is a real emergency. If no one answers, then a police officer is dispatched to physically attend where the call originated.
If the call came from a cell phone, the cell phone provider is contacted to obtain subscriber information and GPS coordinates, requiring much more time and effort.
Police say “pocket dialing”, where a call is made when a wireless devices is accidentally activated, is mainly to blame.
RCMP ask that if a call is accidentally made, either stay on the line, call back and verify the mistake or answer the phone when you receive a call back from the Operations Communications Center (OCC).
Kelowna’s OCC received 221,073 calls in 2010. Of that number, 46,033 were abandoned 911 calls, with 53% generated from mobile devices.
RCMP offer several tips to avoid accidentally calling 911:
-Remove mobile phone and wireless devices from pockets while driving or in a vehicle
-Remove 911 from programmed speed dials, both on land lines or mobile phones
-call back to let 911 operator know there is no emergency
Kelowna’s OCC services a population of 660,000, from 70 Mile House to Golden and Princeton to Cranbrook.
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