SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The 911 system is there for everyone to use in an emergency, a way to summon help quickly from police, firefighters or paramedics.
However, not everyone who dials those three numbers is in desperate measures.
“We do have people who call in and give incomplete information or incorrect information,” said Belinda Esquivel, a communications manager for the San Antonio Police Department. “We’ve had several like that on any given day.”
Esquivel said bogus calls make up a small portion of the nearly 2.4 million emergency and non-emergency calls that the city fields each year.
However, those kinds of calls could prevent someone who actually needs help from getting it.
“There might be kids or some young adults who may think it’s funny to call in but it’s taking resources from the actual calls,” she said.
SAPD figures show there were 156,625 calls to the 911 system between Jan. 1 and Sept. 28 of this year that didn’t pan out.
The reasons included officers not finding the person who called 911, or an address that the caller gave dispatchers, the numbers show. In some of the cases, officers spoke with people who claimed they didn’t call 911.
Joseph Arrington, a spokesman for the San Antonio Fire Department, said tracking bogus fire calls is a bit more difficult.
However, he says between the fiscal year, October 2022-September 2023, the agency did receive 16,623 calls for medical help where they found no patient.
These types of calls seemingly not only waste time, but money.
While neither agency keeps track of the cost, even $1 spent on each call would add up to a lot of money.
Denise Cardenas, a 911 call taker, says she never knows who or what is at the other end of the phone.
“Sometimes they’re life-threatening situations, sometimes it’s a loose dog in a park,” Cardenas said.
Still, she has to treat all calls “as if they’re true and 100,” and pass them on to dispatchers to send help.