Pocket cell phone causes problem for Vermilion Parish’s 911

The Vermilion Parish Communications District is asking the public’s help in dealing with pocket dialed calls to 911.
“The parish’s 911 system has seen an influx of wireless pocket dialed calls over the last three months. Unintentional 911 calls can tie up the 911 phone system and hinder 911’s ability to respond to real emergency calls,” said Gabe Mathiew, director of 911 in Vermilion Parish.
Some of the callers have called over 100 times in the last few months.
“The culprit seems to be an emergency phone button or 911 auto dial feature that some wireless phones have, essentially a one touch link to 911,” he said. “The problem is when you put your phone in your pocket and walk outside to work in the yard or go to the store, something as simple as walking can trigger the phone to dial 911, without you ever knowing until the 911 dispatcher calls you back. They will call back until they can determine that you don’t have a real emergency.”
Another problem 911 has is people letting young children play with their phones. The children end up calling 911 by accident and then the dispatcher has to figure out if there is a real emergency going on there.
This also is time consuming and can take away from real emergency calls by tying up the 911 lines, Mathiew said.
“The 911 District asks that you take appropriate measures to make sure that you’re not one of those individuals making unintentional 911 calls,” said Mathiew.
The following consumer guide from the FCC discusses the situation below and has some remedies for making sure you don’t accidentally dial 911 from your wireless phone.

Accidental 911 Calls From Wireless Phones Pose Risk to Public Safety

Background

Unintentional 911 calls placed from wireless phones clog the phone lines that deliver 911 calls to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), which handle 911 calls, and put the PSAPs’ ability to respond to real emergencies at risk. Here’s how the problem occurs, and what you can do to avoid making an accidental 911 call.

Many older wireless phones are equipped with a feature designed to dial 911 automatically in an emergency. For example, when one key – typically the “9” – is held down for a few seconds, the phone automatically dials 911. The person using the phone may not even be aware of the feature or that it has been pre-activated by the manufacturer or retailer. Accidental dialing of 911 can occur even more frequently with open-face design phones that may bump against other objects in a purse, briefcase, or pocket. Newer wireless phones generally either do not have the capability to automatically dial 911, or require the user to activate the feature to make it work.
Accidental 911 calls cause problems for the public safety community, which must spend time and resources to determine whether a 911 call is real or accidental. A 911 operator must stay on the line to make this determination. If no one is on the line, the operator may need to disconnect the call and call the user back to determine whether the call is real or accidental. If no one answers, the operator may spend even more time trying to reach the caller, or even dispatch emergency services to help the caller. These efforts waste resources and divert scarce public safety personnel from other 911 calls reporting real emergencies.

Avoiding Accidental 911 Calls

You can help reduce accidental 911 calls by:

Locking keypads using the keypad lock feature. Keypad locks, some of which can be programmed to activate automatically, prevent a phone from responding to keystrokes until you unlock the keypad using a short combination of key presses.
Turning off the 911 auto-dial feature, if your phone has one. To determine whether your phone has this feature and how to turn it off, check your user manual or the manufacturer’s website, or call your service provider.