All 911 calls made over conventional phones get routed to the nearest public safety agency. But, the call box requests for help go to the California Highway Patrol communications center. It is also estimated that 2.8 million cellular phones are in service in California alone. And a lot of calls come in after officers and ambulances are already at scene. And, of course sometimes responses are duplicated as a reporting party gives a different location of the incident.
Some callers blatantly lie about the request to get a unit there quicker.
Of course this abuse can be fatal if the responding officer believes there is a hazard with a weapon. She did this after failing to get through on non-emergency lines. Her last call came in on August 14th. She was politely reminded of the use of the 911 network by Police Chief Micheal Heidingsfield. One solution is the result of a bill signed by Governor Pete Wilson this moth, SB 655 by Senator William Craven, R-Oceanside that will authorize a pilot program that will automatically transfer call to a possibly a private answering service hired under a contract.