Locals don't abuse the system
By TANYA EISERER Staff Writer
Callers might get a busy signal at times when calling 911 in
metropolitan cities but not in Abilene, said the police department's
communications supervisor.
"There hasn't really been an abuse of the 911 system by
the citizens of Abilene," said Donna Spohn.
The dispatch center received about 52,000 911 calls and about
139,000 calls on its administrative line in 1997, Spohn said.
The 911 calls were mostly emergencies, she said.
In contrast, the 911 systems in major cities have been saddled
each year with hundreds of thousands of nonurgent and sometimes
frivolous calls, prompting some cities to implement a 311 non-emergency
phone system, Spohn said.
"Those large cities are receiving an ungodly amount of
911 calls in a 24-hour period," she said. "They have
been forced to come up with something else to keep from overloading
the system."
Dallas launched its 311 system last week to much fanfare. The
number will be available for residents to ask the city about everything
from alley repair to zoo hours.
Dallas is the third U.S. city to create a 311 system. Baltimore
launched a 311 service in October 1996. San Jose, Calif., activated
its 311 number this fall.
'What we were able to convince people of was that by using
the non-emergency number more often, they were actually making
themselves safer by freeing up police officers," said Baltimore
Mayor Kurt Schmoke. No decrease in work
If a 311 non-emergency system was implemented in Abilene, it
wouldn't decrease the workload for dispatchers, Spohn said.
'We would still be answering the phone regardless of which
phone line rings," she said.
Spohn also noted that some people are still afraid to call
911, fearing they don't have a true emergency.
"They don't want to abuse the system," she explained.
While some people may be reluctant to call 911, other people
don't have the same fear. Some people call for things that are
definitely non-emergencies, Spohn said.
"Our strange calls tend go to toward the animal side,"
said Amanda Cokonougher, a dispatcher.
For example, one frantic woman called to report her dog's tongue
was stuck to the refrigerator coils.
"We also get the usual ones from the kids who call and
say that their house is on fire and then they hang up," Spohn
said.
Spohn said dispatchers will call back and then talk to their
parents, asking them to explain to their children when and when
not to use the emergency 911 system.
Some children just call to talk, such as a 7-year-old boy who
called 911 operators to tell them what he learned in fire safety
class, Cokonougher said.
"He was real proud of his fire safety education,"
she said.
Spohn added, "We once got a little 3-year-old girl who
called up and sang to us."
Other people really are calling about an emergency. It's just
that with the proliferation of cellular phones, dispatchers might
receive six to eight phone calls for one accident.
"A lot of those phone calls don't stop until the equipment
arrives on the scene," Spohn said.
In addition, the 691-prefix numbers are sometimes put through
to the 911 system, she said.
"For some reason, (the six) doesn't enter the system,"
Spohn said. "So they'll get us. We encourage people to stay
on the line and say it was an accident."
Then there are confused people who sometimes call dispatch.
They may have just dialed the wrong number or something might
really be wrong, Spohn said.
'You have to stay on the line to make sure nothing's wrong,"
Spohn said.
nd some people just want to know the weather.
"They have no idea that we're down in the dungeon,"
she joked.
(The Media General News Service and the Associated Press contributed
to this story.)
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