More than 100,000 calls were made to 9-1-1 by accident within Metro Vancouver and surrounding areas in 2011, diverting valuable public-safety resources away from real emergency calls. ?
Based on a recent analysis of call statistics, E-Comm, the regional emergency communications centre, found that 10 per cent of the more than one-million 9-1-1 calls it received in 2011 were dialed by mistake.
E-Comm estimates more than 70,000 of those calls (200 per day) were "pocket dials" (inadvertent calls from cell phones) and 40,000 more were "abandoned" calls (hang-ups).
In 2011, 58 per cent of E-Comm's 9-1-1 call-volume came from cell phones, an all-time high and up 10 per cent in just four years. The increased use of wireless devices has also resulted in a rise pocket dials. They happen when phones are stored in pockets, purses and backpacks without protective cases or when 9-1-1 is programmed into phones.
E-Comm is asking the public to "help us help" by using keylocks, storing cell phones in protective cases and to not pre-program 9-1-1 into any phone.
If 9-1-1 is dialed by mistake, the centre reinforces that callers should stay on the line and speak with the call-taker. When callers hang up, staff will call back to ensure the caller is safe, tying up more resources and in the case of hang-ups from landlines, dispatching police.
"The safety of the public and first responders is our priority," said Doug Watson, E-Comm's vice-president of 9-1-1 operations. "In addition to our education efforts, we'd like to see cell-phone manufacturers and telecommunications industry groups try to ensure better safeguards are put in place on phones to prevent pocket dials to 9-1-1 in the first place."
E-Comm is raising this issue during Emergency Service Dispatchers' and 9-1-1 Awareness Week in B.C. (April 9 to 16). The aim of the week is to educate the public about calling 9-1-1 and to recognize the dedicated work of emergency call-takers, dispatchers, technology specialists and support personnel.
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