E-Comm’s 9-1-1 call-takers are reaching out to the public with its annual top 10 examples of calls they received in 2016 that unnecessarily tied-up emergency lines.
Call-takers Jim Beland and Chris Faris had the top two 9-1-1 nuisance calls of the year: a broken gym locker and someone enquiring about job opportunities with the police.
“I’d like to be able to say that calls such as the ones on our top 10 list are rare, but unfortunately this isn’t the case,” said Beland. “As call-takers our job is to treat each call like an emergency until we can determine otherwise, and this takes time. We want our time reserved for people who need help because they have a legitimate emergency.”
Faris agrees.
“Unfortunately, we do get a lot of people who call 9-1-1 thinking it can be used as an information hotline. We get a lot of calls that start off with ‘this is not an emergency but…’ and that’s a concern when we know there are other people out there who need our help,” adds Faris.
E-Comm receives approximately 1.35 million calls every year to 9-1-1 and any time a 9-1-1 line is taken up for a reason that does not require immediate action from emergency services, lives could be at risk.
The 2016 top reasons to not call 9-1-1 were:
• Requesting help opening a broken gym locker.
• Enquiring about job opportunities for a family member interested in police work.
• Because an electric shaver would not turn off.
• Requesting a ladder to get a soccer ball off the roof.
• How best to get a drone down from a tree.
• Tired of waiting in traffic.
• A big spider in the bathroom.
• Complaining they couldn’t get into a nightclub.
• Because their teenager refused to do chores.
• “Can you tell me what time it is?”
To learn more about when to call 9-1-1 visit ecomm911.ca. Resources include non-emergency numbers for police, fire and ambulance, and free education materials available for order.
