(WELLINGTON COUNTY, ON) -Wellington County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) would once again like to remind the community of the problem of accidental 9-1-1 misdials. Last year officers from Wellington County Detachment were dispatched to over 2500 smart phone accidental “pocket-dialed†or 9-1-1 misdial calls resulting in over 1800 hours of unnecessary police time responding to and investigating these erroneous emergency calls. A statistical analysis predicts an even greater increase of these unnecessary and resource-intensive calls in 2014.
Police respond to each 9-1-1 call, even if a caller advises it was a misdial to verify that a real emergency doesn’t actually exist. Typically a police response involves officers personally attending a business, residence or spending several hours trying to locate the source of an erroneous smart phone “pocket dial†to confirm the authenticity.
“This involves a significant amount of lost time that could be spent being more proactive in the community, with crime prevention, traffic safety and community policing initiatives†Wellington County OPP Detachment Commander Inspector Scott Lawson says, “Time spent on 9-1-1 misdials is time that could potentially be used to save someone’s life and moreover it activates other emergency response protocols potentially and unnecessarily putting first responders in harm’s way†he added.