Peel Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah recently shed light on the extent to which the emergency helpline 9-1-1 is misused by clip of a call about a broken television on X (formerly Twitter).
A transcript of the call relates the conversation.
When the operator asks if the caller needs police, fire or ambulance; the individual responds saying that their “television has gone crazy”.
“I can’t get any channels, or nothing,” the caller continues.
The operator then states that the caller has dialed into 9-1-1 and asks “Do you have a life threatening emergency?”
“Who do I call,” the caller responds.
The operator then tells them to call 6-1-1.
“Over 40% of all calls to 911 are inappropriate or misuse,” Chief Duraiappah states in the post. “When every second counts, our 9-1-1 operators should be responding to critical incidents only. For non-emergencies call 905-453-3311.”
