9-1-1 hang ups are serious offense, and unfortunately are common in most areas. After most weekends, the Kindersley RCMP post a weekend report to the public via their Facebook page, and 9-1-1 hang ups are a common re-occurrence on the report. West Central Online spoke with Constable Dan Earle who explained that calling 9-1-1 and hanging up is something all RCMP jurisdictions take seriously regardless. "Whenever we do get 9-1-1 calls, it is something we do have to follow up on. Something we consider very serious because we don't know why 9-1-1 was called, and when people call 9-1-1 we expect that it is an emergency and that they need help quickly."

 

Under the 9-1-1 act, as Constable Earle explained "The use or to permit another person to use a telephone to place a false, frivolous, or vexatious call to the number 9-1-1, the penalty for that on a first offense is to a fine not exceeding $2000 and any subsequent offense its a fine not exceeding $5000."

 

Constable Earle also explained what kind of affect this has on the officers when false 9-1-1 calls are made "Dependent on what we hear in the back round where we hear sounds, something like a struggle, we can have even up to 4\5 officers responding lights and sirens from every which direction. That absolutely affects their ability to do their other investigations and to help the community in other ways."

 

This issue isn't secluded to just Kindersley as Constable Earle explained, rather an issue that happens everywhere. Constable Earle also said that sometimes it can just be a mistake, commonly when people use the number 9 as a starting number to start a call. Also there have been some cases where 9-1-1 can be called from a person's pocket, and etc.