Nonemergency 911 calls, known as nuisance calls, are causing delays in Winnipeg for people who are really in need, operators said Thursday.
The emergency line is only meant for life-or-death situations, but some people aren’t using it appropriately.
"Sometimes people will phone in asking if we know what time it is,” WPS senior police communications operator Janette Hedley told CTV Winnipeg. “They might phone because they want to order pizza."
"It ties up that operator, first and foremost, because now that operator's not available for an emergency that could be waiting behind the call," she added.
Hundreds of 911 calls come into the Winnipeg Police Service communications centre every day, some of them for ridiculous, non-life-threatening matters.
One person wanted to add a cable channel to their television package.
911 Dispatcher: What's happening?
Caller: I just wanted to add a program to our cable.
911 Dispatcher: Okay, you called 911? It's for life or death emergency. You're going to need to call MTS or Shaw or whoever your provider is.
Caller: Okay, I thought that 911 used to be for information and I could get the telephone number for them.
911 Dispatcher: No, that's 411.
Another called because their house alarm had been beeping for three days.
911 Dispatcher: 911, what's the location of your emergency?
Caller: We have a problem. The alarm keeps beeping now for three days. It's very annoying and they do not want to do anything about it.
911 Dispatcher: Are we talking about your house burglar alarm, ma'am?
Caller: Yes, yes the house.
911 Dispatcher: Okay that wouldn't be a 911 call. You've called 911 this is for life and death emergencies.
Caller: It is an emergency. It's been going on for days.
One person called because a parking ticket machine wasn’t working and he was worried about getting his car towed.
911 Dispatcher: 911, what's the location of your emergency?
Caller: Well I've been trying to get a hold of 311 for about 20 minutes and I can't. I just put money in a parking meter and it's not… nothing's coming out I just don't want to get towed or ticketed that's all.
911 Dispatcher: Okay well that's not a 911 call, sir.
Winnipeg police don't have a way of tracking the frequency of the nuisance, but Insp. Kendra Rey, commander of the WPS communications centre, told CTV Winnipeg these calls come in more often than they should, possibly due to cellphones.
For example, one caller told a 911 dispatcher that he was just calling from his new cellphone to check and make sure he could contact them when needed.
911 Dispatcher: 911, what is the location of your emergency?
Caller: Hi, I'm calling from a cellphone that I just bought.
911 Dispatcher: Okay...
Caller: It says emergency calls only I'm just calling to see if I can call you and contact you to make sure that I can reach you when I have an emergency.
“I think just the fact that people have a phone in their hand all the time, that we absolutely get more nuisance calls as a result of that,” she said.
But even if the call isn’t for a real emergency dispatchers need to stay on the line and ask enough questions to verify that and if someone calls and hangs up dispatchers have to try to return the call or send police to check on the address where the call came from.
Dispatchers and police don't want to discourage people from calling, but they do want to stress the importance of using 911 when there's a real emergency.
With a report from CTV Winnipeg
