VICTORIA --
B.C.’s 911 emergency dispatch centre, E-Comm, has released its annual top 10 list of the most needless 911 calls of the year.
The dispatch centre releases these lists every year to try to inform British Columbians not to tie up 911 call lines for non-emergencies, which can divert resources from real crises.
Some of 2020’s worst offenders include calling 911 to see if a trampoline was illegal to own during the pandemic, to confirm what time it was, and to complain that the "mattress they had purchased second hand was more soiled than advertised."
"Calling 911 to ask a question or report a consumer complaint may seem harmless enough. But, what people may not realize is that we need to treat every call as an emergency, until we can determine otherwise," said E-Comm call taker Megan McMath in a release Wednesday.