Hamilton police are reminding the public that 911 is for emergencies, as the service releases its top-10 list of calls that shouldn’t have been made this year.
Police note that such calls take up valuable resources and could delay response to a genuine emergency.
Here is a look at the top 2018 non-emergency calls fielded by Hamilton’s communications operators.
1. Checking to see what time it is
2. Reporting a hacked Facebook account
3. Assault by a humping dog
4. Reporting a sick cat
5. Asking if the Beer Store is open
6. A noise coming from a lightbulb
7. A cat in front of the house
8. When Canada Day fireworks are taking place
9. A discrepancy in retail pricing
10. Cold McDonald’s food
Hamilton police add that they fielded 195,000 calls in 2018, nearly one-third of which were not emergencies.
Communications operators are also said to be dealing with a high volume of pocket dials.
Approximately 4,500 calls are abandoned before they are answered, which means an operator must call back and verify there is no emergency.
Police say the volume is so high, that they have had to assign a full-time staff member to respond to all abandoned calls.