Recently I was reading in a local community newspaper about a situation that would apply to a lot of us...

The author of the article explained that while at a meeting on the 6th floor of an office building, he had attempted to call 411 for "information" but mistakenly dialed 911.  He realized his mistake and hung up the phone before completing the call, then correctly dialed 411.  Having hung up the phone before it rang into 911 dispatch, he assumed that the call did not go through.  Some time later, two San Jose police officers and the San Jose Fire Department showed up at the office after checking every office on all six floors.

This was embarrassing for the caller and certainly wasted the valuable time of our public safety personnel.  More importantly, it brings up the question of what if this had been an actual emergency.  Police and fire did not have a specific location in the office building to respond to.  I did some checking and found out why this is and what can be done to get you the help you need faster if you call 911 from an office building.

Experts explain to me that offices often have business phone systems that differ from home phones.  These systems such as PBX, Centrex, and Voice-Over-IP systems do not tell us where the call is coming from when they dial 911.  They only give us the business address and the main telephone number for the building and/or business, which could be miles away from the emergency.  If the business involves four or five buildings and thousands of offices, that leaves a pretty wide area to search in an emergency.  Some companies, realizing this shortfall, have gone much further with their systems.

Fixing this problem in business is very important and will ultimately help to save lives.  The IT folks at your companies can install a module that shows the floor the caller is dialing from and gives a dispatcher the capability of calling their number back to inquire about the issue at hand.  Other companies have a security office that answers the number listed on the 911 readout.  When we call back, security personnel can tell us where the call came from as they have an internal readout that shows when a certain extension calls 911 and where that extension is.  Unfortunately, not all companies have these features.  This leaves us with a huge building and many offices to search.

Some agencies ignore what are known to us as "911 hang-ups", meaning the caller hung up before we could find out what the issue was.  The City of San Jose does not.  If we cannot call back the number or no one answers, we send police officers out to ascertain the situation.  If there is an indication of a medical emergency, then fire fighters go out as well.

The best thing for citizens to do when they mistakenly dial 911 is to stay on the line.  We will ask a few questions and once we are satisfied there is no emergency, we will terminate the call and no response will be generated.  If you are in an office building, and your company uses a PBX/Centrex/VOIP, know your office number and floor.  It will be very important in generating a timely response to your emergency.  Contact your IT or HR staff and find out if steps have been taken to deal with the 911 location issues.

Also, remember that cellphones also present the same issue.  Check out my past article on cell phone 911 calls.  Though we will get an approximate address, it will not be exact.  Again, stay on the line and tell us the address, floor and office number of the emergency.  The direct emergency phone number when you are in San Jose is (408) 277-8911.  Calling this number will avoid having the call possibly answered by the California Highway Patrol and delaying help as the call is later transferred to San Jose.

'Til next time, proudly serving you,

Your Beat Cop