Mixed-up coffee orders top list of ‘nuisance calls’ to 911 operators

Calls to B.C. 911 reporting messy roommates are just one of the repeated nuisance calls that have wasted operators’ precious time during the busiest year in the service’s history.

E-Comm, which handles

99 per cent of the province’s 911 call volume, has released its annual top-10 list of calls that do not warrant emergency services.

It received just over 1.9 million 911 calls in 2021, a year in which the service had some of its single busiest days.

Between three provincial states of emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic, high demand for police, fire and ambulance services, there was no shortage of reasons to call 911 in 2021.

But E-Comm call takers continued to field familiar complaints and general questions about COVID-19.

“Our staff worked tirelessly throughout the heat dome, wildfires, and flooding emergencies to support our first responder partners and get help to those who needed it as quickly as possible,” said Jasmine Bradley, E-Comm spokesperson in a news release.

“It was disheartening to learn that we continued to receive 911 calls from people looking for information or trying to make general service complaints when so many communities were experiencing critical emergency situations.”

Bradley said every second that operators spend speaking with someone who doesn’t have a real emergency is time they could have spent helping someone in a life-threatening situation.

E-Comm says it hopes its list of “nuisance calls” is a reminder that every time someone calls 911 for a non-urgent matter, they put the lives of other British Columbians at risk.

The top-10 nuisance 911 calls of 2021:

1. The barista mixed up their coffee order 2. A pedestrian was splashed on the sidewalk

3. Requesting a COVID test

4. Enquiring about becoming a 911 call taker

5. Wanting to know where they could vote during the federal election

6. Looking for weather updates

7. Asking for directions

8. Wondering why the bus wasn’t coming

9. Enquiring about COVID restrictions

10. Reporting a roommate who is messy