Cell Phone Update Causing Surge in Accidental 911 Calls

(KNSI) – An Android operating system software update is leading to a surge in accidental 911 emergency calls.

In May, Google added a trigger where dispatchers are automatically notified when the power button is pressed five times in quick succession on a cell phone. Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck tells KNSI News the change has had quite the effect both locally and across the state.

“We are definitely experiencing that same increase in central Minnesota. I’d say that our accidental 911 calls have almost doubled in the last two weeks, three weeks, or so since this update came out.”

Heck explains what to do if it happens to you.

“If you hang up, that actually triggers us to have to call you back and it creates more work for our telecommunicators. So we do ask that if you do accidentally dial 911, please just stay on the line and explain it was an accident.”

An Apple iOS update earlier this year that sought to automatically call 911 in a car crash was being triggered at amusement parks and by riders on ATVs and other off-road vehicles.

Heck says law enforcement at the national level has organizations consult on these types of changes and the unintended consequences they can create. He says everyone is trying to minimize situations like the surge in unintentional 911 calls that is currently happening.

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