Dispatchers wary of ‘phantom’ calls

No other electronic device has inserted itself in our lives as quickly or completely as the cellular phone. As with other examples of digital technology, it’s constantly changing, and not all of the changes are for the better.

Cell phones can be lifesavers, used to call emergency responders from remote areas where no hard-wired phone can be found for many miles. The technology that makes such calls possible can also cause headaches for emergency dispatchers. This column is intended to help reduce the number of “phantom” calls placed every year to emergency dispatchers nationwide.

Many such calls are placed without the knowledge of the phones’ original owners. As that technology changes, owners buy new phones. Their old ones become “noninitialized,” and while unable to make and receive regular calls, they can still be used to call 911 in case of emergency.

The problems come when the owners pass on the outdated phones. Sometimes they go to operators of shelters for domestic abuse victims. More often, those old cell phones end up in children’s hands, and in the words of one supervisor, “They create a bit of a problem.”

Cliff Wells, communications director for the Maine Department of Public Safety, says the numbers are staggering. Of 347,614 calls placed to emergency responders between Jan. 1, 2007, and March 31 of this year, 24,202 came from these noninitialized cell phones. Those are phones that their owners likely assumed weren’t even in use. Of those calls they received, Wells says, “very, very few” were truly emergency calls.

That’s a concern for responders, whose time may be diverted from real crises. It’s also an issue for the rest of us, as potential consumers of fire, ambulance, rescue or other public safety services.

It’s not always clear when a call to a 911 center is an actual emergency or case of abuse. Jim Ryan, executive director of Penobscot Regional Dispatch, says by law police must investigate reports of domestic abuse. Even if a caller says the call was made in error, most agencies will send an officer to the point where the call was made, just to be sure. While newer phones contain a chip that can pinpoint a caller’s location, that’s not the case with older models. Ryan says time spent unnecessarily on well-being checks is “probably huge.”

Mistaken dialing can also send callers to a dispatch center they had no intention of calling. Ryan says it happens often in Bangor, where the 991 exchange can be easily misdialed. Even the combination of numbers 911 within a seven-digit number can sometimes trigger a call to emergency responders.

The majority of false 911 calls probably come from children, who have been given “hand-me-down” phones by parents who upgrade. As they explore the buttons on their new “toy,” they may find they have been connected to a 911 dispatcher. Citing the statistics on noninitialized phones, supervisor Wells says, “I’d rather you throw it [the phone] away than give it to the kids.”

Still, Wells and Ryan agree on the need to put recycled phones in the hands of potential domestic abuse victims, whose use of the phones could literally save a life. Noninitialized phones can still be used for 911 calls, and they may be the only phone an abuse victim can access. “They do serve a purpose, and we do want them out there,” says Wells.

His advice for people calling 911 in an emergency: Know your location. While newer technology can land responders “on a dime,” older phone technology combined with Maine’s remote stretches can mean delays when you need help. Keeping an eye on your surroundings, landmarks and the like when traveling can pay off when you need to make that emergency call.

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