accidentally dialing 911

[Texas2Step]

The number of accidental 911 dialings is way up, mostly because of people sitting on their phones. I remember years ago accidentally dialing 911 on a landline phone. I felt horrible when the police officers showed up.

[sgoodman]

Most accidental dialings come from hotels. In a typical PBX system, you dial 9 to get an outside line, then dial 1 for long distance, then your number. However, some people get mixed up, and end up calling 911.

The problem gets worse if they quickly hang up... because when a 911 operator receives a call from a hotel, they see the name and address - but not the room number. So the operator calls the hotel, but the front desk agent doesn't know who called 911. In most jurisdictions, a 911 hang-up requires sending a police car out to investigate.

Shane.