911 nuisance calls in Winnipeg

[Swank]

Originally posted by lasimmon
Apparently 911 has been called about 10 times from my office this year already. Probably because of the stupid requirement to dial 9 to get out.

I wish any number but 9 had been picked as the unwritten standard, that does cause a lot of mis-dials. Area codes that start with 91 can eat my ass too.

If you ever call 911 in error do not panic and hang up, explain the error immediately. Hang-ups send the nearest emerg vehicle to investigate and they will be far more likely to shit directly down your throat for the hanging up then had you saved them the trip and explained it to the dispatch operator.

[whiteout]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1


And how did you know to call the non-emergency line and what the number was? If your VEHICLE has been stolen, the 2nd largest purchase you will ever make in your life, it most certainly can feel like an emergency. So what do you do? 911. I'm not saying it is right, but that's what happens. If you don't know the non-emergency line, or have never heard of it because it is so poorly advertised, then what?

A stolen car is no where near a life or death emergency. And the non-emergency number is written on the sides of police cars.

Nuisance calls and hang ups should be mandatory fine that is treated the same as a ticket written by police. No registration renewal until it is paid off. Guarantee that after the first moron gets a $5000 hit for trying to order a pizza and cries to the media, the calls will come to a screeching halt. Non-emergency calls to 911 should be a three strike rule, three warnings and then a fine.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Rat Fink


Manditory court. A judge determines the fine. If you don't show up a warrant is issued for your arrest. It is enforced by police.

Interesting, different than ambulances then I guess.

[gretz]

Originally posted by whiteout


A stolen car is no where near a life or death emergency. And the non-emergency number is written on the sides of police cars.

Do I call 911 to get the Non-emergency number off the patrol car they send out?

Thanks tips, it's been beat to death / enlightened above... Nice echo bro

[Env-Consultant]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1


And how did you know to call the non-emergency line and what the number was? If your VEHICLE has been stolen, the 2nd largest purchase you will ever make in your life, it most certainly can feel like an emergency. So what do you do? 911. I'm not saying it is right, but that's what happens. If you don't know the non-emergency line, or have never heard of it because it is so poorly advertised, then what?

Google. Like a normal, sane human being. People shouldn't be too dumb to realize 911 is not appropriate in this case. Even Google Calgary Police Phone Number.

[gretz]

Originally posted by Env-Consultant


Google. Like a normal, sane human being. People shouldn't be too dumb to realize 911 is not appropriate in this case. Even Google Calgary Police Phone Number.

You are right... I am anything but normal or sane lol

[Env-Consultant]

Originally posted by gretz


You are right... I am anything but normal or sane lol

Aren't we all

[ercchry]

Originally posted by gretz


You are right... I am anything but normal or sane lol

I agree

[NoPulp]

Originally posted by Swank
If you ever call 911 in error do not panic and hang up, explain the error immediately. Hang-ups send the nearest emerg vehicle to investigate and they will be far more likely to shit directly down your throat for the hanging up then had you saved them the trip and explained it to the dispatch operator.

They call you back first. Or at least they use to.

Way back in middle school my dumbass friend tried this old phone in his basement... hung up. I was so mad he called 911 to test it. Like wtf. They called back, he said his niece did it, they wanted to speak to her to make sure she was okay. He handed me the phone... I was so fucking mad. It's a funny story now, but not a cool thing to do.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by NoPulp


They call you back first. Or at least they use to.

Yeah, and talk about an annoyance, lol.

Literally minutes before we were about to start our road-trip vacation, my wife went to call her parents. Still in "work mode", she hits 9 "to get out", then 1. Realizing her mistake she hangs up quickly, then picks up again. Well, the old school phone system uses a series of hang-ups to dial numbers (like rotary phone clicks, that's what it's actually doing), so by doing that, she inadvertently dialed 911.

They called back and had to speak to both of us, and even then still sent out a CPS member. So our road trip got pushed back by over an hour, and we got stuck in that really shitty 3pm-6pm Abbotsford to Vancouver parking lot traffic jam.

[rage2]

Originally posted by lasimmon
Apparently 911 has been called about 10 times from my office this year already. Probably because of the stupid requirement to dial 9 to get out.

Anyway I was told the next time will be a $250 fine to whoever does it. No one was fessing up but they said next time they will just fine the person who does it.

We changed our phone system to use * instead of 9 and completely eliminated the problem. We used to get a cop visit monthly because of hang ups and dial 9 then accidentally dialing 11 instead of 1 for a long distance call. 99% of our calls were long distance.

[Go4Long]

Originally posted by lasimmon
Apparently 911 has been called about 10 times from my office this year already. Probably because of the stupid requirement to dial 9 to get out.

Anyway I was told the next time will be a $250 fine to whoever does it. No one was fessing up but they said next time they will just fine the person who does it.

A lot of offices accidentally dial 911. Most modern office phone systems have a set up that if you dial 911 it adds the additional 9 for you so that in case of emergency you're not sitting there getting pissed off at 911 for not ringing because you missed a 9. The flip side of that is that if you accidentally hit the 1 in a long distance number twice...you're getting a visit from the police.

The CPS policy is that every 911 call gets a visit, even if it was accidental. Although I'm sure that doesn't actually ALWAYS happen. I know some of the employees managed to convince them that all was fine some how.

[lasimmon]

Originally posted by Go4Long


A lot of offices accidentally dial 911. Most modern office phone systems have a set up that if you dial 911 it adds the additional 9 for you so that in case of emergency you're not sitting there getting pissed off at 911 for not ringing because you missed a 9. The flip side of that is that if you accidentally hit the 1 in a long distance number twice...you're getting a visit from the police.

The CPS policy is that every 911 call gets a visit, even if it was accidental. Although I'm sure that doesn't actually ALWAYS happen. I know some of the employees managed to convince them that all was fine some how.

Security told us they don't visit office buildings for accidental calls. They will contact security and have security investigate.

Last time some one in my office accidentally called I was in the hallway when security came up while on the phone with 911 to see if there was an issue.

[nicknolte]

If people knew the cost of a 911 call vs. a 311 call they might think twice about their frivolous call... then again maybe not.

It's going to be interesting when they finally implement text to 911

[max_boost]

A lot of people just don't know.

When I was a kid, our neighbor parked his car in front of our house and told us to fk off. As an immigrant family we were afraid of the white man and actually felt threatened so I dialed 911 lol That was when I found out that public street he could do whatever he wanted and you don't dial 911 for parking issues haha

[revelations]

For the ninnies complaining about not knowing or not memorizing non-emerg numbers - grow up.

We were 6-8 years old when we were taught all emergency numbers in elementary school - back before 911 ever existed in Canada. Fire/Police/Ambulance had all their own 7 digit numbers.

35 years later, I can still recite the numbers.

[Env-Consultant]

Originally posted by revelations
35 years later, I can still recite the numbers.

[canadian_hustla]

Originally posted by Swank
I wish any number but 9 had been picked as the unwritten standard, that does cause a lot of mis-dials. Area codes that start with 91 can eat my ass too.

If you ever call 911 in error do not panic and hang up, explain the error immediately. Hang-ups send the nearest emerg vehicle to investigate and they will be far more likely to shit directly down your throat for the hanging up then had you saved them the trip and explained it to the dispatch operator.

*raises hand*
I've done this, about 10 years ago...working at a bank too. Tried to call a client long distance, 9 to call out, followed by 1 - 1..shit. next thing you know there was a dispacher on the line,.
I hung up and tried to forget my mistake, only to pick up the phone and not hear a dial tone, but rather the same dispacher who said they locked my phone (can they do this?) and not to hang up.
I apologized and tried to defuse the situation, but as someone said earlier they have to investigate all calls (especially at a bank) and dispatched two police cars sirens and all. Very very embarassing but has not happened since.