911 Problems: Deterring The True Purpose of Emergency Calls

Online, May 24, 2013 (Newswire.com) - A woman makes emergency calls dialing 911 every day to ask what time it is. Just this last summer, a child playing with his grandpa's cellphone called 911 47 times in one day reporting false emergencies like fire or a gunshot. In the last couple of weeks, people have been calling Cheyenne 911 service asking when the snow storm will stop or when their roads will be plowed.

Laramie County Dispatchers in Cheyenne handled thousands of misdialed and improper calls since last year. Some are abusive, mischievous, and some that makes them scratch their heads.

One of the biggest 911 problems for Laramie County dispatchers is hang-up calls. Just in 2012, there were 2,939 cell phone hang-up emergency calls.

"One of our bigger hang-up cellular phone calls is children playing with old telephones," said Glen Crumpton, Director of Laramie County Combined Communications Center. He said that every telephone has the ability to still call 911.
"We burn a lot of time. On all of them, we have to try to re-establish contact, so we're calling the number back," he also stated.

Misdialed panic button, Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) device, prank calls, and hang-ups can affect people who are calling in with rather true emergencies.

Common Cause Of Accidental 911 Calls

One of the biggest 911 problems that plague 911 dispatch are false or accidental emergency calls. Often they come from children playing with uninitialized cell phones capable of calling 911. Some popular stories include youngsters needing help with their math homework, and some adults acting like a child when they don't get their Western Bacon cheeseburger at the drive through service. But most of the cases are being pointed out to accidental calls made through wireless phones. Below are some of the most common causes for accidental 911 calls.

• When the first three number of a local phone number known as the "central office code" begins with the number "91", the chances of an accidental call are increased.

• If a cell phone user inadvertently presses the "9" or "1" key on a phone preprogrammed to dial 911, the phone accidentally dials 911 even without the user having to press "send" or "call".

• If a recent call was made to 911, user accidentally presses the "redial" or "send key" and the phone dials 911 again.

• When phone users accidentally bumped shortcut keys designated as panic button that dials 911 automatically, commonly known as "butt-dial" mistake.

• The number for "information" and "repair service" is 411 and 611. This numbers are prone to misdialing 911 when user's intention was to call information or seeking for repair, accidentally pressed "9" instead of "4" and "6."

• When making international call for India and Nuremburg, Germany. India's international code is 91 and the city prefix for Delhi is 11. In Germany, Nuremburg can be accessed with 911 as their local code.

• When a dedicated PERS preprogrammed to reach 911 is accidentally activated.

There is a hundred ways of misdialing 911. An accidental 911 call results to hang-ups because of shame. In this case, responder or dispatch would need to callback the number, or if received from a mobile device the dispatch would need to track the phone number by calling the phone provider or carrier just to determine if a true police or medical emergency exist. Hence, many agencies have instructed citizens not to hang-up if they accidentally misdialed 911.

The Risk Of Misdialed 911 Calls

Prank calls and misdialed 911 calls can put someone's life in grave risk. In a near death situation, every minute count. A slight delay on emergency response could cause someone's life. Just5 cell phones with its genius PERS design can help to prevent 911 problems. Just5 allows users to pre-store five emergency numbers. The panic button or the phone's SOS button when activated will dial five people and will continue to initiate the call until it recognizes a voice call. So when 911 is failed to be reached at once, the phone will dial the other numbers to ensure that the person will immediately get the assistance he needs. This phone is very ideal for people who are susceptible to face life-and-death situation such as the elderly because of its very practical design and features. Just5's emergency button is designed to prevent "butt dialing" as well because the button was in placed in a recessed manner to prevent accidental dialing. The phone is also provided with keypad lock slider to further enhance its "anti-accidental dialing" features.

Apparently, the best way to avoid the risks of misdialed 911 calls is for everyone to be responsible enough in using their phone. Surely, this will significantly limit and reduce 911 problems and allow 911 dispatchers to attend to real emergency calls.