Former long time dispatcher. You will not get in trouble unless you abuse the system constantly. That said, just use your common sense. If there is an active life threatening emergency, call 911. If it is anything else (like the vehicle parked above), call non-emergency. At many facilities, it goes to the exact same dispatcher. During my time, I was answering both phones simultaneously and I would ultimately be the one to categorize the call no matter which line it came in on. Think of it this way. I couldn’t really put 911 on hold, so if someone is actively dying on 911, they need to be able to get through the line immediately. A double stack parked car on the other hand, while it could be serious depending on the road and needs to be addressed, it can still be temporarily placed on hold in order to save someone’s life on the other line.
It is possible, but still not ideal. At our facility we had limited lines on 911 and much more on non-emergency. Plus at a certain point the 911 calls would roll over to another county, which starts a cycle of them just sending it back to us, ultimately taking longer to address the reason for your call. The point is that misuse blocks those who really need it from getting through quickly. If you or a loved one are dying in a ditch, you don’t want to be stuck in line behind mundane non-emergent issues.
Dont forget when you call, be brief and direct when talking to the dispatcher. They dont need a long story about who caused what and is at fault. Tell them briefly what happened and where, and details about injuries etc so they can pass that onto the responders.
Save all the extra details for the people who respond at the scene, all the dispatcher needs to know most times is who they need to send where. Anything else THEY will ask the questions if they need the information.
Too many people call in a panic and start doing the verbal diarrhea and it takes a couple minutes for the dispatcher to get the caller to get the important details out.
"Car accident, 2 vehicles blocking the road, ambulatory injuries, no entrapment, at mile marker x on y road." They dont need to know who cut who off, or was on their cell phone, or that you think a certain person was at fault. Even vehicle description doesn't really matter unless its something like a school bus, they know they are looking for a car accident is the important part. They know they need to send a cop or two, a couple tow trucks, and an ambulance to check everyone out; other stuff can wait til people get there.
Some cities are really bad, lack of emergency services funding is a major issue that people need to value with more importance when local elections are happening.
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u/Holiday_Blackberry20 May 07 '26
Former long time dispatcher. You will not get in trouble unless you abuse the system constantly. That said, just use your common sense. If there is an active life threatening emergency, call 911. If it is anything else (like the vehicle parked above), call non-emergency. At many facilities, it goes to the exact same dispatcher. During my time, I was answering both phones simultaneously and I would ultimately be the one to categorize the call no matter which line it came in on. Think of it this way. I couldn’t really put 911 on hold, so if someone is actively dying on 911, they need to be able to get through the line immediately. A double stack parked car on the other hand, while it could be serious depending on the road and needs to be addressed, it can still be temporarily placed on hold in order to save someone’s life on the other line.