Don’t hang up if you accidentally call 911.
That’s the message from Guelph police, who say people misdialling their emergency line continues to be a significant issue and it ties up resources that could be used for an actual emergency.
The service groups these calls with others under “Priority 9 calls” — it’s the lowest priority Guelph police has when it comes to calls for service.
But this group made up the greatest increase in calls between 2018 and 2019. There were 24,723 Priority 9 calls in 2019, which is 3,050 more than the year previous.
“Due primarily, to an increase in 911 misdials,” a report to the police services board stated.
The same report shows in the first six months of 2020, there have been 12,299 Priority 9 calls, including almost 6,000 911 misdials.
Const. Kyle Grant said this is a problem that is mainly due to cellphone pocket dials, but the real issue is when the caller hangs up.
“At that point, our dispatchers have to work hard to call them back and in some cases send officers out to ensure everyone is safe,” he said.
“The worst thing you can do is hang up right away. The best thing you can do is speak with the dispatcher, let them know what happened.”
Grant said police take an education first approach when it comes to 911 misdials, but repetitive calls or prank calls might result in some more action from police.
“Intentionally misusing 911 is an offence,” he said. “But for something like a pocket dial, it would not apply.”
Most smartphones have features that call the police without actually dialling 911.
For example, iPhone 8 or later models can dial 911 by holding down the power button and a volume button on the sides and dragging a slider on the screen. With iPhone 7 or earlier, 911 is dialled if the side or top button is rapidly pressed multiple times.
These features can be also be turned off through the settings app.
While police are trying to curb 911 misdials, Grant said it’s something everyone should be aware of.
“As there are more people in our city and more people with cellphones, unfortunately, we’re going to get more and more of these pocket dials with cellphones,” he said.