Packed with information aplenty, smart watches offer a multitude of functions, including one that’s proving to be surprisingly problematic.
On Wednesday, police in the Central Okanagan announced that they’re seeing an increase in false 911 alarms — stemming from smart watches.
“The Kelowna RCMP, along with other emergency services, have recently responded to six separate false 911 calls this ski season,” said police.
“All have been the result of smart watch owners unaware the ‘SOS function’ has been turned on.”
Police say when a skier or snowboarder falls while wearing a smart watch, the watch’s built-in SOS function contacts police and emergency services as if the person fell at home or was involved in a vehicle collision.
“The latest incident took place in the afternoon of Jan. 10, 2023, after the watch’s function indicated a crash had occurred and emergency services were deployed,” said Kelowna RCMP.
“The watch’s GPS coordinates showed the location at a local area ski resort, and, because the call did not provide a call-back number, RCMP were unable to locate the source, causing the unnecessary emergency response, which included fire and ambulance services.”
Police say many smart-watch wearers don’t realize the feature is functioning.
In turn, they’re asking smart-watch users to turn off the fall detection function when on ski hills or doing other sporting activities.
“Kelowna RCMP responds to all calls,” said Const. Mike Della-Paolera, “but this potentially could cause police, fire or ambulance the inability to respond to a real emergency in a timely manner.”