Good Morning and hello there and how ya doing? Have you noticed the number of things there are on the web about miss-use of the EMERGENCY NETWORK put into place to help those in need? Oh my gosh, this is a list of said calls and believe me people just do not understand the difference between a dire emergency and what they think in their head is an emergency.
Hey, how’s it goin?’” asks a cheerful male voice on the line.
“Police, fire or ambulance?” barks back a very annoyed 911 operator, handling yet another non-emergency call.
According to OPP transcripts, that’s just one of a ton of crank or stupid calls 911 operators are receiving these days. Many start with, “Oh, I know it’s not an emergency but …,” then they proceed to use the crisis hotline as an information service. Lonely seniors use it as a “chat line.”
“Is this where I would call to say I hit and killed a deer last night?” asks one woman.
“This is 911. It’s life and death only,” replies the dispatcher. “I have to let you go, ma’am.”
That’s the rule of thumb for a 911 emergency call, right there. If it’s a deer you hit and killed, call the Ministry of Natural Resources. If it’s your dear husband you hit and killed, yeah, dial 911.
In Toronto alone, half of the two million calls received annually by 911 turn out not to be an emergency, worse in large rural areas like Huntsville where only three per cent of the 696 calls were of life and death nature.
In Canada, there’s a lot of, “Sorry, I hit the wrong button,” going around.
And: “My daughter went for a walk out in the forest and found a whole bunch of stuff that looks like it’s been robbed from somewhere.”
That’s not even close to an emergency. In fact, here in Wainfleet that’s called “one-stop shopping.”
In the United States, where the problem is even worse, 911 dispatchers have documented calls about a pet cow in the neighbor’s yard, a bad case of the hiccups, a cat on a power line, too few towels in the hotel room and a tame parrot on the loose.
One woman wanted police to come to her house and change the battery in the smoke detector she couldn’t reach. Another wanted to know if they had last night’s winning lottery numbers.
One man called in a panic because he couldn’t find a gas station that was open.
One man called to report his thumbs were stuck in a sprinkler system, while in Lakeland, Fla., a young man got a lot worse stuck in the suction system of a swimming pool. Not the first one, but definitely the second one was a genuine emergency.
The most famous misuse of 911 occurred years ago in Hauma, La., when a woman called to say her husband was refusing to let her watch the season finale of Knott’s Landing. She was charged with being a public nuisance.
The more serious charge - of being the stupidest person on the planet at that moment - was dropped.
Just last week in Trois-RiviÅ res, Que., a former RCMP officer got drunk and called 911, threatening to kill Premier Jean Charest for his “false” campaign promises. In a way, confessing your intent to kill somebody before you actually do it is a legitimate 911 emergency call. But it also tips your hand.
Just so we’re clear - police consider a real emergency as any situation that requires immediate assistance when the safety of people is at risk, such as a crime in progress, a car accident, a fire or a medical emergency. (Not the thumb, but the other thing).
For instance, if your cat is sitting on top of a hydro pole surrounded by live power lines - that’s not a police emergency. However, if your husband is in the process of chopping down the hydro pole, call 911.
If you can’t untangle the garden hose, that’s not an immediate risk to anybody. On the other hand, if you can’t untangle the garden hose because it melted when the fire spread from the house to the shed - call 911.
Welcome Wagon representatives knocking on your door is not a crime. Calling 911 to ask why people from Welcome Wagon would be wearing ski masks in August is a good idea. These are the people who would tell you this…Oh Don’t Fly…oh no, I am sure when planes go into the clouds they disappear.
Anyway… have a fabulous Wednesday and if it is your Hump Day enjoy if not then you still have a ways to go to get over that hump.
A huge hug and many assorted pats.
Marr-tay
(see I had to put that hyphen in there due to people pronouncing it incorrectly)
