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Saturday, August 22, 2009
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'Don't use 911 as a joke' Public must understand service is for emergency purposes Staff Writer As a look at daily police blotters can attest, not everyone in Crow Wing County understands the meaning of emergency 911.
For every assault and burglary call - emergencies that need immediate law enforcement attention - there are just as many calls for barking dog complaints, disagreements with neighbors and people asking for business phone numbers.
It creates a double-edged sword for law enforcement officers. They want people to call 911 in case of an emergency, but realize what constitutes an emergency to one person might not to another.
When and when not to call 911
Dial 911 only for an emergency such as a serious medical problem, a fire, any life-threatening situation or a crime in progress.
Do not dial 911 for a property damage accident, a break-in to a vehicle in which the suspect is gone, a theft in which the suspect is gone, vandalism, to report panhandlers, to report intoxicated persons who are not disorderly or to report cars blocking streets or alleys. Instead, call the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Department main number at 829-4749.
If you call 911 in error, do not hang up. Stay on the line and explain to the dispatcher that you dialed by mistake.
When calling 911, remain calm and speak clearly. Describe the type of incident, the location of the emergency, the people involved and vehicles involved. You also will be asked for your name and phone number.
Be patient when a dispatcher is asking questions. Most likely emergency personnel are already responding while you are talking with the dispatcher.
Don't hang up until the dispatcher tells you to do so. Follow any instructions the dispatcher gives you, such as meeting an officer at the door or flagging down firefighters at the curb.
Parents should teach children to always call 911 from a safe place, never call as a joke or prank and that 911 is not for animal emergencies.
Above all, never hesitate to call 911, even if you are unsure if it's an emergency.
Sources: Dispatch Magazine On-Line and the Brainerd Police Department.
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"It's really simple, not complicated," Brainerd Police Chief John Bolduc said. "Don't use 911 as a joke, or about a question on law enforcement. Only call it if you think it's an emergency. That will vary from person to person."
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Ken Johnson, Crow Wing County Sheriff's Department 911 operations manager, watched a bank of computer monitors Tuesday while working in the emergency 911 dispatcher center at the sheriff's department. Dispatchers have struggled for years dealing with 911 calls that are not emergencies. Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
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Another problem is that most people don't realize that at any time of the day they can contact a sheriff's dispatcher to report a non-emergency crime by calling the department's non-emergency phone number at 829-4749.
"It's a hard thing to control right now because we have so many people with cell phones who don't have a phone book, they're out in the car and some people don't have a land-line phone anymore," said Scott Heide, the sheriff's department public safety answering point supervisor. "Then we have tourists. They have no idea what our phone number is or where we are but they know 911."
Ken Johnson, sheriff's department 911 operations manager, said 911 should be used for emergencies such as a personal injury, a threat to personal security, a fire or to report a crime in progress.
While dispatchers also field 911 calls on property damage, vandalism or theft of items - crimes for which one would assume to call 911 - Johnson said unless the caller is reporting the crime as it is happening it would be better to call the sheriff's department non-emergency number to report the crime.
What the sheriff's department doesn't want are 911 calls that have nothing to do with a crime, an accident or other issues that require law enforcement attention. Heide and Johnson said they've had 911 calls from people who want the phone numbers to Target or Wal-Mart; from people who've locked their keys in their cars or can't get their cars to start; and from people complaining about the noise from Camp Ripley, the noise from the monthly civil defense siren tests and from air tankers fighting wildfires that have scooped water from their lakes and disturbed their serenity.
Heide said every year, without fail, the most common 911 call the dispatch center receives from 6-10 p.m. on July 4 is what time the fireworks start in Brainerd.
Johnson said when dispatchers receive such calls, they try to explain to the caller the purpose of 911, the difference between emergencies and non-emergencies and how the caller can handle their issue different in the future.
"We get a lot of non-common sense calls like that," Johnson said. "We understand it's quicker for them to do it that way than to call back on the business line. It's not right, but it happens. On the flip side, what we don't want is people to be scared of dialing 911."
The biggest concern with non-emergency calls coming into the sheriff's department dispatch center is that it may be taking a phone line needed for a real emergency. Heide said there are only so many lines for each telephone prefix in Crow Wing County.
Also, if 911 is called by mistake, people often hang up. Instead, Heide said people should stay on the line and explain to the dispatcher that the call was made by mistake.
"There's no law against that," Heide said. "No one's going to be in trouble and it saves time on our part by not having to have officers respond."
The bottom line, however, is that when in doubt call 911, Sheriff Todd Dahl said.
"When someone hesitates to call in, saying, 'I don't want to bother them,' in reality, it's our job to handle those calls," Dahl said. "When they hesitate calling, that's when very possibly something bad could happen. It's not bothering us. We're simply doing our job."
MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.
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