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911 dispatchers flooded with non-life threatening calls
A look at how the Atlanta 911 Call Center is combatting the nearly 75 percent of calls that do not rise to the level of an emergency that are clogging the lines and slowing response times.
ATLANTA - Officials with Atlanta’s 911 Dispatch Center said prank and non-emergency calls are adding to slow response times.
With over 3,000 calls a day, dispatchers said only three-quarters of those calls are real emergencies.
FOX 5 has done stories about the long 911 wait times some viewers said they experience. The Atlanta Police Department said there are things callers can do that can help dispatchers.
"Once I started taking calls and realized I was making an impact and a difference, I fell in love and I’ve been here ever since," Brittney Williams said.
Brittney Williams is an assistant training coordinator at the Atlanta 911 dispatch center. She’s here to help not take calls like this:
"I came into the café and asked for a peach smoothie. I don’t know what that was but it wasn’t a peach smoothie. I’m from Atlanta and I know what peaches taste like," one woman said after calling 911.
"A lot of the calls we get are quality of life issues. When people don’t like that something has happened. Not necessarily a crime against them but they just don’t like something," Williams said.
These calls are clogging up phone lines and adding to long wait times.
Williams said if there’s a real emergency, callers knowing where they are helps.
"Whether that’s a street address, a landmark, a business and expressway, we can find you if you know where you are," Williams said.
Callers should never hang up thinking they will get a faster response calling back.
"Don’t hang up thinking I will call back and get someone. It will actually put you at the bottom of the call cue and we will have to go through all the other calls," Williams said.
Williams said pranks only diverts resources for real emergencies.
"We are real people. We are here for you. We care about you but we need you to help us help you," Williams said.