The misuse and abuse of 911 call centers in many jurisdictions is a problem that exacerbates an already challenging working environment and degrades a critical infrastructure of the emergency services sector.

Many 911 call centers explain that they are plagued by unintentional and intentional types of telephone calls. Unintentional phone calls include those caused by hang-ups, misdials, automatic dialing and phantom wireless calls. The National Emergency Number Association estimates that in some communities, phantom wireless calls account for 25- to 70% of all 911 calls. Prank, diversionary, lonely complainant, exaggerated emergency, and non-emergency calls fall into the intentional category.

Intentional and unintentional calls degrade this critical infrastructure by delaying responses, overtaxing call-takers and wasting their time, and by the monetary cost of handling calls that are not legitimate.

This information, as well as how a jurisdiction can analyze its local problem and implement corrective strategies, can be found in “The Problem of Misuse and Abuse of 9-1-1,” a downloadable publication from the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. The four-page report also includes strategies and solutions contributed by call centers in various localities.

A companion document, “Assessing Response Problems: an Introductory Guide for Police Problem-Solvers,” explains how to measure the local problem before implementing responses and how to determine the success of responses.

Both documents can be accessed at www.popcenter.org/Problems/problem-misuse-911.htm