OPP And Tecumseh LookingTo Decrease Accidental 911 Calls
Tuesday March 6th, 2018, 9:00am
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The Ontario Provincial Police and the Town of Tecumseh are working together to decrease the amount of accidental calls to 911.
OPP officials say that a review of accidental/false alarm calls over the 2013-2017 period has indicated that on average, 572 accidental 911 calls and 665 calls for residential and commercial false alarms were responded to annually in Tecumseh.
The OPP has launched the #KnowWhenToCall campaign to educate the public on unintentional calls. They continue to urge the public not to call 9-1-1 unless it’s an emergency, and not to let children play with mobile phones or tablets.
Police say that they respond to all calls for service whether intentional or not. For every unintentional call, an emergency communicator must determine whether a real emergency exists and if police, fire or paramedics should be dispatched.
If you place an unintentional 9-1-1 call, stay on the line to let the emergency operator know it was a pocket dial/unintentional call. When a caller doesn’t respond, that could be a sign of trouble – a possibility an emergency responder can’t ignore.
You can prevent pocket dials or unintentional 9-1-1 calls by:
- Using the keypad lock feature.
- Turning off the 9-1-1 auto-dial feature.
- Avoiding programming a wireless device to automatically or “speed dial” 9-1-1.