Tips for dialing 911 in the new year

Tah-dah! Well, it January 1, 2010. I am here at work and it is actually peaceful for the time being. I guess everyone is recuperating. So for the new year I am going to give out some info about calling 911. When you call 911 it should be an EMERGENCY! Do NOT call 911 looking for information, because you have a question or need a phone number! If you need a phone number, you should call 411!! If the first sentence out of you mouth to the operator is ..." i know this isn't an emergency but, or i don't know if or think this is an emergency", it's probably not! An EMERGENCY,constitutes bleeding, serious injury or illness, car accidents, a fire, burglaries in progress, entering auto or prowlers, or if you come home and see that your house has been broken into. If a burglary, or entering auto has already occurred, then it is no longer an emergency and you can use the local number for the proper authorities in your area. However, if you are just coming home and you house appears to have been broken into.... do NOT enter the house and immediately call 911 from you cell phone or a neighbor's house; there is a possibility that the burglar could still be inside! You should always have a list of all of your valuable belongings and if possible the serial numbers in a safe place that you can find (ie. guns, jewelry,electronics, tools)if possible, you should make a copy of receipts for these things and place them with your list. The reason I say to make a copy of the receipts is because the carbon copies the are used by stores, fade and over time you will not be able to read the information. In case of a fire, get everyone out of the house and call 911 from a neighbor's. Do not call from inside a burning house! Do not call 911 because your neighbor has a fire in the backyard, or in a fire pit, unless the fire is unattended and getting out of control or close to a structure. If a fire is in a proper fire pit, it is contained and there should be no need to call. Here is a very important tip!!! Do NOT give your child your cell phone or any telephone to play with. They make toy phones for children or if you have an old phone that does not have service that is fine too. Approximately 20 times per shift if not more, depending on the expanse of the area covered by an agency, we get calls from kids playing on phones. This is a waste of our time and resources as well as yours. Most cellphones have safety features on them and if you simply hold down the 9 button, it will call 911. When you put your phone in your purse, or pocket....lock the keys. We also receive many "accidental" calls from things in your purse, or because your butt dialed us. For all you prank callers...prank calling 911 is illegal and you can be arrested for it. It is called abuse of 911. Here is some more useful info... you should ALWAYS know where you are! This is also for people traveling, as well as the people that just don't have a clue. In Pre-K, you learn your name, address and phone number...at least you should. Every fall, in October we have EMERGENCY WEEK at our preschools. My director and I go to all of the Pre-K classes and teach the importance of 911, knowing your address and phone number, as well as when and how to recognize an emergency and how to call 911 and tell the operator the information that she needs to send help. If a 4-5 year old can do this, then an adult should be able to. We deal with adults that don't have a clue on a daily basis. This is the vital information an emergency operator needs to know... Where are you?, What is your phone number? (this is in case the call gets disconnected, we can call you back) What is the emergency/what is going on? (this is to determine what authorities...police, fire, medical or a combination need to be sent). In larger areas you may be asked for a cross street or a street nearby or a landmark. These are things that you should know even if you are just traveling through. Pay attention to your surroundings and street names. We do not know "that street, this here street, where so and so lives or stays" giving this type of information wastes valuable time that could be the difference in life or death for someone. If you are calling about a drunk or reckless driver, get a description of the vehicle, direction of travel and on what street you are on and if at all possible get a tag number. I believe that this is all of the tips that I have for today. If I think of any more, I will post them. If you have any tips you would like to add, just let me know.