Ark Valley News - False emergency calls tying up 911 dispatchers

False emergency calls tying up 911 dispatchers
By Matt Heilman
Last Updated: November 26, 2014

Last year, more than 10 percent of Sedgwick County 911 calls proved to be non-emergency misdials. Including cases of children playing with phones, pocket dials and instances of mistaken emergency calls traced to old cell phones that still have batteries in them, dispatchers in Sedgwick County fielded 80,517 mistaken or abandoned cell phone calls last year.

The statistic highlights a problem that Laura Meyers of Sedgwick County Emergency Communications has shared with city leaders in the Wichita area. On Nov. 18, Meyers addressed the Bel Aire City Council.

She said the 80,517 abandoned emergency calls in 2013 equated to about 3,335 dispatch hours, time that dispatchers weren't able to speak with people calling to report actual emergencies.

"It's a problem that ties up dispatch even if emergency crews are not dispatched," Meyers said.

On Nov. 18, she shared advice for the City of Bel Aire and other communities to pass on to residents.

She says the public needs to be aware that old cell phones no longer in use still have the capabilities to call 911 if the batteries aren't removed from them. She encouraged parents to keep cell phones away from young children and for people to lock their cell phones when they're not in use, reducing the chances of pocket dialing wrong numbers, including 911.

"Don't play around and lock it down," Meyers said.