Atlanta's E-911 operators overwhelmed by ‘unnecessary’ 911 calls amid staffing shortages

ATLANTA - Officials with Atlanta’s E-911 Communications Division said unnecessary calls to 911 are clogging up emergency lines and increasing stress on the already understaffed call center.

The E-911 center answers an average of about 3,000 calls a day. Officials say they estimate about a third of those calls are non-emergencies. They’re urging residents to think twice before dialing the number.

A long red light, a lost pair of glasses, and even a call for Atlanta police to come kill a spider in a woman’s apartment are just a few of the thousands of calls Atlanta’s 911 operators have had to answer each day.

"The red light is so long and so infuriating that it is a crime and I’d like to press charges I guess," one caller told the operator.

Training Coordinator Brittany Williams says with the 911 center already severely understaffed, those calls are making it more of a challenge for 911 operators trying to get to callers in crisis.

"People are calling in because they don’t like how things are going or they feel inconvenienced by something…it’s not really a crime in progress, a property crime or a physical crime," she said. "If you’re dialing 911 for something that is not a true emergency, you may be preventing our operator from answering a real emergency call."

Williams said with the call system they’re currently using, operators are also unable to tell the difference between calls coming in through 911 and those coming in through the non-emergency line.

"Each operator is just answering the calls as they come in, so if a person dials the non-emergency number before someone dialed 911, that non-emergency call is going to come through first," she explained.

Williams told FOX 5 the call center will switch over to a new system that eliminates that issue starting next month.

In the meantime, the 911 Communications Division has launched a new series on social media to call out ‘unnecessary’ 911 calls.

They recommend people call 311, the city’s customer service line for non-emergencies, instead.

Atlanta police, the E 911 center, and Atlanta Fire Department will all be hosting a job recruitment fair this Saturday at Atlanta Metropolitan College on Metropolitan Parkway. They are encouraging anyone interested to apply online or stop by the job fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.