Alberta Mounties are reminding everyone that 911 is for emergencies and not for hamburger delivery.
The RCMP is releasing some of the wacky calls that 911 operators in the province have taken in the past year as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week begins.
“People are not always aware of what constitutes an emergency. Our teams work hard behind the scenes 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to manage incoming calls for service to keep our citizens and communities safe throughout Alberta. Sometimes, it is interesting to review what shouldn’t be done in order to understand what is appropriate to do,” said the RCMP in a media release.
Some of the more interesting calls that mounties say operators received to 911 in the past year include:
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- “My phone settings are all in another language, how can I change it back?”
- “Can you bring me a hamburger? I am hungry and cannot drive!”
- “I need you to stop my teenage son from vaping!”
- “My neighbour is plowing snow incorrectly!”
- “The neighbour’s kids strum the guitar every time I go for a smoke. No matter what time of day, this has been ongoing for three months since the start of lockdown.”
- Multiple calls reporting suspicious satellites when SpaceX launched.
- After reporting that their airplane had been redirected from Edmonton to Calgary, a caller refused to exit the plane until their luggage was provided to them first.
Mounties say they are asking people to be mindful when they call 911 and that it should only be used for true emergencies.
The RCMP says there were over 890,000 911 calls placed in Alberta last year.