What To Know About 911 Abuse

| Sunday, January 20, 2013
By Claudine MacDonald


The emergency telephone number that is used in the North American Numbering Plan, NANP, is 911. This number is to be dialed only in emergency situations. Using it for any other purposes, including prank calls or non-emergency circumstances, is considered 911 abuse and may be recognized as a crime.

The 9-1-1 number was decided on in 1968, following the trial of several other emergency numbers. It is one of eight N11 codes, which are abbreviated dialing numbers that provide special services. The codes may be used for community services, municipal government or non-emergency services, directory assistance, traffic info, customer service or repair, TDD relay for those who are deaf and underground public utility location.

Each phone in America and Canada is capable of dialing this number. Likewise, the law in these countries mandate that this number can be dialed on phone lines that are not even in service. Because the primary objective of the line is to allow people to report emergency situations for which they need help, the abuse or misuse of the line is nothing to be taken lightly.

There are two main types that misuse and abuse may be categorized under: intentional and unintentional. With unintentional, the focus is on calls that a person or phone made inadvertently. This is a category that includes hang-ups, misdials and phantom wireless calls.

Phantom phone call typically involves some form of automatic dialing. This is known to happen for users who accidentally hit 9 and then 1 and the phone is preset to complete dialing of the number, even when the send button is not hit. Redialing or resending may be other issues that occur accidentally. Some older model phones might dial the number automatically when its batteries get low and numbers are hit. Hang-ups and misdials may occur when a person misdials the international access number or the wrong area code.

Non-emergency calls to this emergency line are mostly considered 911 abuse. This involves people deliberately dialing the number with the wrong intentions. Sometimes callers will place a call regarding an incident that is not an emergency but requires police attention. Others will call to ask about non-police-related information. There are some who do prank calls to the number, falsely claiming an emergency or purposely hanging up.

Exaggerated calls are another issue. Sometimes people will intentionally exaggerate how serious a case is in order to get a fast response from the police. An example would be a caller reporting that he or she heard shots fired when calling about an assault or dispute. This type of misuse is hard to prove and therefore individuals who do this may not be charged or prosecuted for their behavior. Individuals who repeatedly report emergencies for which the police never find evidence to back up are classified as lonely complainant callers. These are not considered pranks and do not always fit under the category of exaggerated emergencies.

The 9-1-1 number is used for emergency situations. It is accessible on any phone in Canada and America. Despite its importance, many participate in 911 abuse or misuse, which may include pranks, exaggerated emergencies, lonely complainants or non-emergency calls.




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