# How do 911 operators handle an overwhelming number of calls? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528 "2023-04-11T17:36:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/1 "2023-04-11T17:36:09Z")
The reporting of the recent mass shootings reminded me of a question I’ve had for a long time. “Your call is important to us” may be the most commonly heard phrase in modern life, used and repeated ad nauseam when you are being put on hold. I’ve heard stories about people calling 911 and being put on hold, but those are usually about bad operators or bad systems. After a mass shooting in a public place - or any number of other disasters - dozens, maybe hundreds, of people will call 911 almost simultaneously, far more than the number of operators available. What happens then? The operators can’t know which calls to prioritize, can’t let calls go unanswered, can’t put people on hold, can’t even say automatically “we’ve responded to the shooting” and let the call die because more information might be provided. I’m sure the answer may differ depending on the call site, its location and its size, but what would be the standard procedures in such cases? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/2 "2023-04-11T18:45:58Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > can’t put people on hold Sure they can, and they do. With a limited number of operators the system can be overwhelmed. They have to do the best they can. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/3 "2023-04-11T21:15:48Z")
What exactly does this mean? Do callers get a recorded message? Do the operators break into other calls to ask them if they can hold? How many people stay on the line? Are the numbers recorded so they can be followed up if the end the call? ---
**Author:** ![andrewm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@andrewm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/4 "2023-04-11T21:49:09Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > can’t let calls go unanswered Yes they can. I called 911 in Baltimore city once (to try to report possible gunshots in a park - likely actually kids with illegal fireworks). My call was not answered before I got sick of waiting and hung up. Nobody ever called me back. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/5 "2023-04-11T23:03:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > What exactly does this mean? When 10 people call a business that only has 2 operators, the first two get answered and the next 8 go on hold until an operator frees up. Pretty much the same things happen on 911, and most systems seem to put a message on that says “Don’t hang up, we’re experiencing heavy load”. Not the most calming thing to hear when your house is on fire, but what else can they do? > **[Why are thousands of people put on hold when they call 911?](https://www.wcnc.com/article/features/producers-picks/why-are-thousands-of-people-put-on-hold-when-they-call-911/275-53018104)** ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/6 "2023-04-12T01:18:42Z")
When they get a report of the same incident they’ll tell you others have already called it in and ask if you want to stay on the line. I assume most people don’t. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/7 "2023-04-12T01:43:52Z")
I thought about becoming a 911 emergency operator, but the office in my county had an awful time keeping people, not just because of the stress but because the management was so poor. And the pay was awful. It was barely over minimum wage. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/8 "2023-04-12T03:16:01Z")
I’d love to hear recordings of the calls in which 911 tells people to hold. The responses would be an interesting representation of human temperament. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/9 "2023-04-12T12:15:59Z")
I think folks are talking about two kinds of “hold” here. In old fashioned human-operated receptionist stations, the human would interrupt one call they were working to briefly answer another, telling the second caller to hold, then returning to process the first. Lather rinse repeat, sometimes with 4 or 5 calls flashing = answered but awaiting any useful attention by the operator. In modern systems, the computer answers the call, says “Your call is important to us, please wait in queue until your turn comes up” and there you sit. That is also commonly called “on hold” by customers although the industry term is “in queue.” I would expect most non-rural 911 centers (PSAP\* in the US argot) have fully automated queue handling. Callers are not getting a chance to speak to a human until there’s a human available to fully process their call. However long that may take. A shortcoming to this system is triage is impossible. * * * \* See also: > **[Public safety answering point](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_safety_answering_point)** > > A public-safety answering point (PSAP), sometimes called public-safety access point, is a call center where emergency/non-emergency calls (like police, fire brigade, ambulance) initiated by any landline, mobile or Voice Over Internet Protocol ("VOIP") subscriber is terminated. It can also happen that when 112 is dialed in then a logic is implemented by mobile or network operators to route the call to the nearest police station. It is a call center in almost all the countries including Canada and ... ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/10 "2023-04-12T13:00:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > In modern systems, the computer answers the call, says “Your call is important to us, please wait in queue until your turn comes up” and there you sit. That is also commonly called “on hold” by customers although the industry term is “in queue.” Or the phone just rings and rings and rings and either they pick up or you give up. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/11 "2023-04-12T13:11:18Z")
To be fair, @LSLGuy did say _modern systems_. Many emergency service systems are woefully out-of-date. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/12 "2023-04-12T23:30:42Z")
Not to be flippant (okay, to be a little flippant) but if they get an overwhelming number of calls…they are overwhelmed by them. If you have literally more of something than you can handle, then things don’t get handled. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/13 "2023-04-12T23:44:01Z")
I just assumed that 911, of all people, would have slightly more sophisticated ways of handling something that critical than, say, my dentist does. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/14 "2023-04-13T00:18:57Z")
Yeah, but by definition “overwhelming” means “more than you can handle”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/15 "2023-04-13T00:46:16Z")
One could certainly imagine a system where sudden spikes in PSAP traffic were analyzed by computer answering systems to geo-locate any “hotspots” in caller volume and signal the dispatchers separately from them needing to talk to dozens of panicky callers to try to discern what is really going on. Given a good municipal CCTV system they’d not need to talk to anyone once the computer cue them to look near 4th and Elm for the site of whatever mass-event just occurred. Sadly, I doubt too many metropolises, and darn few leafy suburbs or low income rural areas have any such gizmos. Yet. So although the dispatchers would not be talking to the majority of callers, or maybe even more than a tiny fraction of them, the underlying point they’re all making: “something awful happened / is happening near me” could still be delivered to the Dispatch center for appropriate response action. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/16 "2023-04-13T01:00:48Z")
> [@andrewm](#): > > > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > > > can’t let calls go unanswered > > Yes they can. > > I called 911 in Baltimore city once (to try to report possible gunshots in a park - likely actually kids with illegal fireworks). My call was not answered before I got sick of waiting and hung up. > > Nobody ever called me back. That’s totally outrageous. Unless there was a major emergency happening at the time, one or more irresponsible idiots should be fired over that. Gross mismanagement of a public safety system is never acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/17 "2023-04-13T01:40:56Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Unless there was a major emergency happening at the time, one or more irresponsible idiots should be fired over that. Yeah, but even if that happened, how would @andrewm even know? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/18 "2023-04-13T01:53:00Z")
Especially since he says it was likely illegal fireworks - I don’t generally hear fireworks on some random Wednesday in March. If I heard something then , I would think it _was_ gunshots not illegal fireworks. I will think it’s illegal fireworks on New Years Eve and around July 4 - and certainly there are a lot of 911 calls on those two dates. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/19 "2023-04-13T01:53:59Z")
He doesn’t have to know. Failure of 911 to respond is, in my view, a serious failure in the public safety infrastructure that could put lives at risk. If it happened to me, I’d definitely report it to the city, county, or whatever the responsible authority was. If there was good reason for that to happen, such as a major emergency, fine, otherwise someone should be fired. Let them investigate and let the chips fall where they may. Personally, I have never had 911 fail to answer right away. One time when my son was very young he accidentally dialed 911 – I think I foolishly had 911 on a one-button speed dial, which he had pressed. They called back immediately, a call that caused a very odd kind of ring that I had never heard before. (When I explained what had happened, they somewhat chewed me out. I felt like handing the phone to my three-year-old so they could chew HIM out – I mean, he was the one who had called them, not me! 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528/20 "2023-04-13T01:58:28Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I just assumed that 911, of all people, would have slightly more sophisticated ways of handling something that critical than, say, my dentist does. I imagine that 911 call centers in different areas could back each other up; presumably both Los Angeles County and, say, San Bernardino County would not be receiving a flood of calls at the same time (unless, of course, the anticipated big earthquake hits California). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-911-operators-handle-an-overwhelming-number-of-calls/982528.md?page=2)