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9-1-1 Henderson Dispatch
When should you call 911?
- Any crime in-progress
- Any other life threatening situations
- Any type of fire
- A serious medical emergency
What happens when you call 911?
In order to correctly assess the situation for a prioritized response, you will be asked certain questions which are vital to the safety of the caller and the responders.
When you call 911, the telecommunicator will first ask you “where is your emergency?” It is not always automatically provided with the phone number and the location that you are calling from. You will be asked to verify this information since quite often individuals call 911 from locations other than where the incident is occurring. If you call 911 from a cell phone it is very important that you provide the location to the telecommunicator.
The telecommunicator will ask "what is your emergency." At this point you should give a quick description of what occurred. Then you will be asked a series of questions which are extremely important to the proper handling of the call. These may include:
- Is anyone injured?
- How long ago did the incident occur?
- Were there weapons involved and if so, what type?
- Did the suspect flee, and if so, which direction?
- What was the mode of transportation, a car, bike or on foot?
- If a vehicle was involved, what was the description and what was the direction of travel?
- What was the physical description of the suspect?
- What was the clothing description?
Although these may seem like an unreasonable number of questions during an emergency, they are very important to emergency personnel.
One common misconception of 911 Communications is that telecommunicators wait until finishing the call before sending help. During a true emergency, the telecommunicators work as a team. One remains on the line with the caller and passes on information to another telecommunicator, who dispatches Police Officers, Firefighters or other emergency personnel.
It is very important that you stay on the line during a call to 911. The telecommunicator will continue to ask you questions while the police are en route.
What should I do if I call 911 by mistake?
If you call 911 by mistake, DO NOT HANG UP. Stay on the line and explain that you do not actually have an emergency. If a caller to 911 hangs up without stating the problem, the caller may be contacted in order to ensure that no actual emergency exists.
If I need the police, but it's not an emergency, what number do I call?
If you need the police, but it is not of an emergency nature, please call our non emergency line at 270-827-8700.