
“When we get 20 to 30 calls a day that are those fall detection crashes going through our 911 center, that can be very overwhelming for dispatcher. It can be hard for them to focus on an actual 911 call that would require emergency services.” –Cpl. Cole Reeder, Boise County Sheriff’s Office
False alarm 911 calls have been inundating the switchboard at Boise County Emergency Dispatch in Idaho due to a feature on many smartwatches. Most smartwatches have a built in crash detection that automatically dials 911 when it detects a crash or hard fall. As you can imagine, skiers and snowboarders at ski resorts fall all the time (most of the time it’s not an emergency) and people wearing smartwatches can end up triggering unnecessary 911 calls.
The problem has become so pervasive that the Boise County Sherriff’s Office have forged a partnership with Bogus Basin ski patrol so they can check if its a real emergency before sending deputies up the mountain.
Although its strains precious resources (the Boise County dispatch center is usually comprised of one person) the sheriff’s office isn’t requesting skiers to disable the feature because crash detection helps save lives in real emergencies. They do however recommend checking your smartwatch regularly to make sure you haven’t accidentally called 911 while your skiing.
If you accidentally call 911, the best thing to do is stay on the line and verify with dispatch that you are okay. If you don’t stay on the line, dispatch will try and call back, often multiple times and trigger an emergency response.
“If you do get a voicemail or something of that sense on your phone, it’s still imperative to call us back, just to let us know that everyone is indeed alright.” –Cpl. Reeder
image credit Starynight_11 reddit