911 systems choking on non-emergency calls

Which of these is an emergency?

• A Subway sandwich shop in Florida leaves the mayo and mustard off a customer’s order.
• A Texas man can’t get a cab.
• A Tennessee man’s stepfather keeps nagging him to do the laundry.

To hear callers to 911 emergency lines tell it, all are.

Eddie Mitchell, a 911 dispatcher in Rancho Cordova, Calif., near Sacramento, likes to tell the story of the caller who demanded to know why the Transportation Department hadn’t mowed the grass. Another wanted to know how to use his cell phone.

“We’ve had people call in asking us to bring them milk,” Mitchell said.

Darrell DeBusk, a spokesman for the Knoxville, Tenn., police, can top that. “A few years ago. an individual called 911 wanting an officer to drive through McDonald’s and bring him a hamburger,” DeBusk said.

Those calls may be funny, but in cities large and small, police officials and system administrators warn that 911 systems are being choked with clueless, frivolous, even prank, calls.

In California, for example, as many as 45 percent of the more than 8 million cell phone calls to 911 each year are for non-emergencies, officials said; in Sacramento, it could be as high as 80 percent. Those calls block the lines for callers who really need urgent help.

“You’ve got a true emergency with somebody out there — that there’s a shooting or something — then those officers are not able to respond to that emergency call, because they’re taking care” of callers who abuse 911 lines, said Jennifer Wilson, who has worked in the 911 center in Knox County, Tenn., for 16 years.

‘We’re here for a purpose’
Officials say decades of education programs meant to emblazon the numbers 9, 1 and 1 in every American’s memory may have worked too well. Because police have to respond to almost every call in case it’s a real emergency, people have figured out that a quick call to 911 guarantees action.

Like Reginald Peterson.

Peterson ordered a Spicy Italian Sub at a Subway store in Jacksonville, Fla., last week. He ordered it with “the works.” To his mind, it didn’t come with the works.

“He tasted his sandwich, and it didn’t have mayonnaise or mustard on it, so he became upset,” said Tammy Morris, a manager at the store.

Witnesses inside the store said Peterson started screaming. Then he went outside to call 911, asking for help in having his sandwich made to his satisfaction. A short time later, he called again to complain that police still hadn’t shown up.

So they did, and they arrested Peterson on charges of making false 911 calls.

“It’s unbelievable what people get upset about now days,” Morris said.

Whom to call and when 911 lines are only for emergencies only, such as a critical medical situation, a serious traffic accident you witnessed or a burglary. Police offer these tips: • Many jurisdictions have separate lines (often 311) for traffic information, weather, date or time or community events. Programs those numbers into your cell phone, along with the non-emergency police and fire numbers. • In a group, designate one person to call 911 to avoid clogging the system with duplicate calls. • If you legitimately need to call 911, have vital information ready: the address or intersection where you are, the make and model of cars in an accident, descriptions of people involved. Sources: California Highway Patrol; Raleigh-Wake County (N.C.) Emergency Communications Center

Or like Kevin Waits.

Waits called a cab to his home in Waco, Texas. When it didn’t show up, he called 911. The dispatcher told him to call a taxi service.

Waco police Officer Steve Anderson said Waits grew more and more frustrated as he couldn’t get a cab. So he called 911 again. And again. Eventually, he called 15 times.

When police finally went to his apartment, they found a cab waiting for Waits — who didn’t have the $26 fare.

Waits was charged with harassment and theft of service.

An msnbc.com-NBC News special report The following NBC stations and affiliates contributed to this report: KCRA of Sacramento, Calif.; KGET of Bakersfield, Calif; KNTV of San Francisco; KPRC of Houston; WBAL of Baltimore; WBIR of Knoxville, Tenn.; WNCN of Raleigh, N.C.; WSMV of Nashville, Tenn.; WTLV of Jacksonville, Fla.; WOAI of San Antonio, Texas; WTOV of Steubenville, Ohio; and WTVJ of Miami.

Or like the unidentified 19-year-old man who called 911 in Knoxville because his stepfather wouldn’t stop nagging him to do the laundry or wash the dishes.

According to the transcript of the call, the man told the operator: “Why can’t he be a grown man and do it hisself instead of whine about it and pick and pack and fight about it?”

Wilson, the Knoxville dispatcher, said, “I hate to use the term ‘babysitter,’ but we’re here for a purpose, and that is not our purpose.”

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