Bogus 911 Calls Clog System.

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Bogus 911 Calls Clog System.

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This kind of stuff really irritates me, especially when people call 911 because she didnt have no sauce with her fish, meanwhile one of your friends or family members are suffering or dieing because you can't get through. What is this world coming to. Call 311 for NON- EMERGENCIES...SAVE A LIFE!!!

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- "This is 911. Do you need police, fire or medic?" It is a call when seconds can save a life or catch a criminal. "Oh God, he shot my baby. He shot my baby." It's a service both used and abused. A man called 911 and asked, "Do you want to play a game?" 911 Director Danny Lovett explains, "It's the only number they can call and harass or call and give false reports." When you need help, the goal of 911 operators is to answer your call in 30 seconds or less. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, that happens 85 percent of the time, but on the busiest days, like July 4, 911 callers can find themselves on hold for minutes, listening to a recording. "We'll get like 500 calls an hour. That volume just stacks the calls up," said Lovett. WCNC analyzed more than 34,000 calls made to 911 during the first two weeks of March. Of those, more than 5,000 were transferred to a recording. The average person waits just 20 seconds before reaching a real life dispatcher. The longest hold time we found was six minutes. Lovett said, "I know if someone invaded my home, 10 seconds is a long time. Many times we find people, they'll call up and say, 'I held for three minutes. I held for four minutes,' and it's not as long as they really thought." But when callers hear a recording, many choose to hang up. In that two-week period, we found more than 2,000 calls to 911 that were abandoned. Lovett explained, "They usually abandon calls because they're not getting answered in a timely manner." 911 blames, in part, an increasing number of people calling 911 for ridiculous reasons. A man called 911 to ask, "Is it illegal to kill a preying mantis?" It's these kinds of calls that put real emergencies on hold. One woman called 911, angry that she bought fish from a restaurant that didn't come with sauce. She said, "I'm not going to leave until I get my money because if this is a restaurant they should at least have something kind of dressing or something, then I've got to get on the bus to Huntersville with four big pieces of fish and I can't eat no fish with nothing on it." For most non-emergency calls, 311 is the number to dial in Mecklenburg County. The county recently approved the hiring of more 911 operators to handle the rise in calls on the busiest days.