More than 115,000 911 callers in Mississauga and Brampton hung up last year
Published November 4, 2022 at 11:59 am
Peel Regional Police say response times to all types of emergencies in Mississauga and Brampton are potentially being impacted because too many people–more than 115,000 last year–are calling 911 and then hanging up.
In a post to Twitter this morning (Nov. 4), Peel police said 115,609 follow-up calls had to be made by Peel Region 911 emergency operators in 2021 because the caller hung up after contacting the emergency line.
“These follow-up calls can delay us in responding to a real emergency,” police wrote on the post.
Police say many people don’t realize that when they make accidental calls to 911, operators must then follow up to make sure it wasn’t a legitimate emergency. That can waste valuable minutes as there may be a delay in answering calls for real emergencies.
Police say callers who accidentally dial 911 should not panic and hang up.
“Stay on the phone so the communicator knows you’re okay. If you hang up, the communicator will call you back and may send emergency services to your location,” police said earlier.
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In addition to accidental 911 calls, police are also reminding residents they shouldn’t call the emergency line for situations that are not legitimate emergencies.
Year after year, police brass say the 911 line is tied up much too often by people calling in to report situations that are not emergencies.
That wastes the valuable time of police, firefighters and paramedics, Region of Peel officials and police say.
“Reminder: 905-453-3311 is our non-emergency number,” Peel police posted to social media earlier this week. “Please program this in your phone so you have it on hand. This is the proper number to call most of the time. 911 is for emergencies only.”
A report released earlier this year shows that nearly 40 per cent of all Mississauga and Brampton calls to 911 in 2021 were not due to an emergency.
“This means that valuable time and resources were lost due to accidental calls and non-emergencies,” Region of Peel officials said in April as they announced 911 Awareness Week.
To ensure 911 services are used for emergencies only, police officials remind residents to avoid non-emergency calls to 911 by:
- only calling 911 when someone needs immediate help from paramedics, police or fire: that means someone’s health or property is in immediate danger
- calling 311, 211 or non-emergency phone numbers for access to non-emergency help
- locking your cell phone and not programing 911 into your phone
- teaching your children how to recognize an emergency and how use 911 correctly
People should call 911 in the following situations:
- attack/assault has taken or is taking place
- gunshots heard
- fire
- medical emergencies
- crime in progress (fights, break-and-enters, for example)
- serious crime has just occurred (sexual assault, robberies, for example)
- suspicious activity (prowler, vandals, for example)
People should call police at 905-453-3311 in the following situations:
- noise complaints
- reporting a crime with a delay (theft that occurred previous night, for example)
- reporting a crime with no suspect (theft of license plate, for example)
- ongoing crime issue (drug deal with no suspect on scene, for example)
Region officials and police say that when calling 911 for a legitimate emergency, callers should stay on the phone with the 911 communicator to make sure they have the information they need to send emergency services to the correct location.
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