‘Oops’ Calls Flood 911 Centers

Cellular phones provide peace of mind in an emergency for many people. But they are an increasingly dangerous headache for 911 dispatchers.

“People don’t realize their phones are preprogrammed to call 911 if a certain button is pushed,” says Mike Miller, a Michigan State Police radio dispatcher. “They put their phones in their pockets or purses and they move around and the buttons get pushed.

“One day I had 94 calls from cell phones that were accidental or hang-ups.”

He’s not alone. With an estimated 91 million Americans now owning wireless phones, frustrated dispatchers from Los Angeles to Boston report an epidemic of calls from phones that connect to 911 after preprogrammed dial options are accidentally triggered without their owners realizing it.

“They drive us crazy!” said Kris Willis, a supervisor in the 911 center in Cleveland, Tenn., who estimates her office gets as many 30 such calls a day. “You’ve got a dispatcher tied up on the phone sitting there for one or two minutes to make sure there’s nothing wrong.”

Massachusetts Director of Telecommunications Blair Sutherland says he doesn’t know exactly how many of the 2,400 wireless phone calls every day to 911 in his state are unintentional. But it’s an increasingly common--and easily recognizable--problem for his staff.

“Our communications center will get a 911 call, and there will be nobody speaking to them or we will hear another conversation or a rustling sound indicative of the phone being in their pocket or purse,” said Sutherland.

The National Emergency Number Assn., a Columbus, Ohio-based industry group, recommends that wireless customers remove the preprogrammed feature from their phones to prevent accidental calls or keep their phones in a place where their buttons won’t be bumped.

“It’s a classic case of unintended consequences: the wireless industry intends to make a phone that is safer, but people inadvertently hit the button and call 911,” says Mark Adams, executive director of the association. “These calls alone get staggering when you talk about the resources they tie up.”

Customers can also lock the phone keypad, so no call can be made without punching in a special code, says Michelle Gilbert, a spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless, which serves 16 million customers nationally. Or they could turn off phones that aren’t in use.

Government-mandated technology expected to be installed over the next few years should also alleviate some of the problem by allowing dispatchers to trace the number and location of wireless phone calls.

California Highway Patrol dispatchers in Los Angeles County are already using some of the new equipment, which allows them to get a readout showing the phone numbers of all 911 wireless calls, including apparent accidental calls.

“We’ll call them back and let them know they need to secure their phones,” said supervisor Bruce Boysen, who estimates about 25% of the wireless calls his department gets are unintentional. “We can also check to see if there’s actually an emergency.”

But that’s not an option for most emergency dispatchers.

The Michigan police outpost where Miller works estimates nearly half of its wireless calls are unintentional, but it lacks the technology to trace those calls automatically.

Officials occasionally have used “*69,” a standard phone service available in many areas, to track down untended wireless phone owners--like Mac McNichols.

McNichols was in a car Thursday afternoon when the wireless phone he uses for work apparently dialed 911 and reached Miller.

“I’m shocked. How it did it I don’t know,” McNichols told a reporter, saying the phone was on the car seat next to him. “Will you tell them I’m really sorry?”