University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 24, March 20
On campus
9-9-1-1 is the emergency number to dial
Enhanced 911," the emergency telephone system, is now a
year old. When emergency calls are received, the caller's
campus building and room location are identified immediately
on a display screen. This allows emergency personnel to
respond quickly and accurately to a call, even if the caller
is unable to speak.
Since all UD telephones are linked into a Centrex
system, the digit "9" must be used before dialing "9-1-1."
Taking this extra step will immediately connect critical
calls to Public Safety dispatchers.
Some callers to 9-1-1 will forget to dial the initial
"9." When that happens, there is a 10- to 12-second delay
before the three-digit "9-1-1" connects and begins to ring
at Public Safety.
According to Dave Heckman, UD investigator and 9-1-1
coordinator, "The '9-1-1' call will still eventually go
through on Centrex," Heckman stressed, "but persons
reporting an emergency situation will find themselves
waiting after they dial for their call to connect. These
extra seconds seem like a much longer length of time in an
emergency situation, and callers think the phone isn't
working or their call is not going through. So, often,
they'll hang up and dial 9-1-1 again, and the wait is
repeated. It's very frustrating for them.
"But, if they had dialed the initial '9,' followed by 9-
1-1, the call would have gone right through," Heckman said.
"We have students and employees from all over the
country on campus," he said, "and the use of 9-1-1 in
emergencies is becoming universally accepted. So, we have to
stress that the UD emergency number is 9-9-1-1. Callers must
dial that initial, extra '9' for the system to act most
efficiently."
Volume and misdials
The volume of calls received by Public Safety
dispatchers is impressive. From April 1 through Dec. 31,
1996, nearly 49,000 calls were received. Of that number,
3,027 were '9-1-1' emergency calls. The rest were handled
through the other four lines-2-2-2-2, which is for general,
non-emergency public safety concerns, and those connected to
the red box and blue light emergency telephones across the
campus.
Last month, Heckman said, Public Safety received 363
telephone calls to 9-1-1. However, 87 of the calls were
misdials-a common occurrence and an increasing concern for
those who work in Public Safety.
Many of the misdials occur when campus users attempt to
secure an outside line to make a long-distance call. They
dial 9 for an outside line, then 1 to access long distance,
then the number. However, Heckman said, when long-distance
area codes-such as "2-1-5" and "4-1-0" are used-callers miss
the 2 or the 4 and touch 1-thus entering 9-1-1.
When such a misdial is received in Public Safety,
Heckman said, the dispatcher responds to the call by saying,
"University 9-1-1. What is your emergency?"
If the caller stays on the line, the dispatcher will
explain that misdialing caused the error. But often, Heckman
said, callers will hang up because they're embarrassed. When
that occurs, the UD dispatcher MUST call back the originator
to insure that it isn't a legitimate "9-1-1" emergency call,
and if there is no answer, an officer MUST be sent to the
phone location to verify that there is no emergency.
Such misdials account for a substantial number of 9-1-1
calling errors each month, Heckman said.
While UD police personnel are trained to explain the
misdial error to callers, callbacks and explanations take
time and, in some situations, could take officers away from
more important legitimate emergency responses.
Emergency training
Heckman said UD dispatchers are highly trained and many
have taken extensive classroom sessions to become certified
emergency medical dispatchers. Since health-related
emergencies are the cause of the majority of "9-9-1-1"
calls, staff know the appropriate questions to ask and are
able to determine, quickly, the appropriate medical
personnel to alert to respond to an emergency call.
Heckman said dispatchers responded to 276 intentional
"9-9-1-1" calls during February. He estimated that about 50
percent of the 276 were not directly related to emergencies,
but they were all handled and responded to in that fashion.
"Many of those calls," he said, "should have been
directed to us through extension 2222-the number to be used
for non-emergency matters."
If people are locked out of their cars or offices or
they need general information, then extension 2222 is the
number to dial.
"The main calls we should receive on '9-9-1-1' are
those related to medical problems, a fire and police
emergencies or crime-related incidents. However, medical
emergencies are by far the highest number of calls received.
"We want to stress the proper use of 9-9-1-1, and we
also want to avoid the number of misdials," Heckman said.
"When in doubt, people should dial '9-9-1-1.' If it's not an
appropriate call for the emergency line, we'll give them the
number to call the next time. But, we would rather receive
their emergency call, or what they consider to be an
emergency, in a timely manner. Then we can respond
accordingly and swiftly."
-Ed Okonowicz
Emergency
All non-emergency calls directed to University Police
should go to 831-2222.
Pre-programmed telephones should be set to dial
"9-9-1-1" in case of an emergency.
Dial carefully when calling long distance, with
special attention to the area codes that include numbers
near the "1" button.
Do not hang up if you accidentally call Public
Safety. Otherwise, the dispatcher must call you back.
During an emergency, on-campus telephone users
Numbers to know
831-2222
Non-emergency, University Police
831-2224
Messenger service, Public Safety
831-1184
Parking Services
831-2683
Public Safety Adminstration