North Bay Police concerned about the high amount of 911 calls

North Bay Deputy Police Chief Scott Tod says there was no shortage of 911 calls in January.

He says there were 321 and they didn’t dispatch police, fire or ambulance to 278 of them.

Tod says most were either nuisance calls, accidental calls or mis-use of the 911 system.

“Sometimes they are pocket dial calls, sometimes they’r einadvertent calls and people meant to call 611 or 411 and sometimes it’s a child or someone playing with a phone,” he says.

He says you should only call 911 when it’s an emergrency because the calls take time and resources away from other urgent matters emergency services are investigating.

“There shouldn’t be accidental mistakes made on 911. Children shouldn’t be playing with phones and being able to dial 911. Because it takes valuable time and resources away from emergent or other urgent matters that we’re investigating,” Tod says.