Public Awareness Credited For Drop in Ill. 911 Calls

Jan. 11--EFFINGHAM -- Improved public awareness is credited with a dramatic drop in 911 calls to the two Effingham County dispatch centers since 2008.

According to statistics released Tuesday, 110,892 calls were received by 911 operators at either the Effingham County Sheriff's Department or Effingham Police Department. Not only is that number down from the 2010 total of 114,822 calls, but the figures show a more dramatic decrease from the 2009 total of 125,582 calls and the 2008 total of 140,368 calls.

Jodi Moomaw, systems manager for the Effingham County Emergency Telephone (911) System, said after Tuesday's 911 board meeting that the public better understands when to dial 911 -- and when not to.

"We're trying to make people more self-sufficient," Moomaw said. "Rather than have people call 911, we have been training nursing home and school personnel to take care of things themselves. Of course, if it's a true emergency, we still want them to call 911."

Moomaw said dispatchers began giving programs to area schools in 2009, particularly aiming for preschool through second grade. Moreover, students began taking information home to parents about when and where to dial 911.

While the vast majority of calls received at the dispatch centers were of a non-emergency nature, the number of emergency calls has also decreased from 15,951 in 2008 to 14,063 last year. About two-thirds, or 10,483, of those calls came from wireless phones, while the other 3,570 originated from land lines.

Call volume for 2011 was almost an even split between the city and county dispatch centers, with 55,881 calls routed through the county and 55,011 through the city.

As is always the case, a number of calls were hangups, misdials or lines inadvertently left open. According to the stats presented Tuesday, there were 1,367 hangups, 321 misdials and 754 "open line" calls. Moomaw said lines are sometimes left open when someone sits on their cell phone while they are driving and has inadvertently called 911.

Moomaw said the total calls recorded also includes calls that originate from the lobby of either dispatch center.

"It doesn't mean we sent somebody there," she said.

Of the 9,464 calls routed through the new computer-aided dispatch system, 6.939 were routed to law enforcement, 1,758 to ambulances and another 632 to fire departments. Another 165 were informational.

Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151, ext. 132, or at [email protected].

Copyright 2012 - Effingham Daily News, Ill.