The fancy emergency call function on your smartphone and other devices could be causing lots of issues on the other side of the line. The Door County Emergency Management and Communications Department estimates approximately 20 percent of all of the calls they receive in a month are because of accidental 911 calls. Kewaunee County saw the number of 911 hang-ups grow over 200 calls from 2019 to 2020 with 1,049 received. In both cases, it takes a lot of resources and time to learn if that emergency call was real or not. Door County Emergency Management and Communications Director Dan Kane says many times, people do not realize it has happened and it is often too late to do anything about it when does.
Kane adds that if you accidentally dial 911 to stay on the line and talk to the on-duty dispatch operator about what happened. If it was an honest mistake, Kane says you will not get in trouble. He also recommends taking a look at your smart device for ways to eliminate the feature if it is an issue. Pushing the power button five times in a row on an iPhone or certain hand gestures for an iWatch could be all it takes to accidentally make an emergency call. You can find ways to change those settings below.
Emergency SOS information for Apple Users
Emergency SOS information for Samsung Users
