Town of Atkinson NH | Police Department 911

FIRE, MEDICAL AND POLICE EMERGENCY CALL: 911

Police Department - 911 Guidelines

The 911 system is one of the most state-of-the-art features in the city, but when should you call 911?

Crimes in Progress
Life Threatening Situations
Fires
Motor Vehicle Accidents with injuries or that cause major traffic and street obstructions
Injuries requiring emergency medical attention
Hazardous chemical spills
Fire, smoke or carbon monoxide detectors sounding
Sparking electrical hazards
Smoke in a building
Any other potentially life-threatening EMERGENCY

If for some reason you do not feel comfortable calling 9-1-1, you can call 603-362-5536.

Please see the FAQ section of this page to review the most frequently asked questions and answers about 911 Emergency calling.

All calltakers at the NH Bureau of Emergency Communications are trained to use a TTY in the event of a 911 Silent Call. A TTY is much like an instant messenger program in which the caller and dispatcher can communicate using a keyboard. Hearing impaired persons reporting emergencies should dial 911.

If you need to call 9-1-1 and you are unable to speak for reasons such as physical disability, domestic violence, home invasion, no access to a TTY or a language barrier, follow these simple instructions using a touch-tone telephone:

When a person dials 911 and hangs up either before the line is answered or before the 911 operator is able to determine the nature of the call, information is displayed on an Automatic Location Identifier screen. The information displayed is the name, address, phone number, and any disability indicators of the telephone subscriber. This information is displayed on all calls to 911, even if the person has caller-id blocking. The 911 Operator will attempt to call back the phone number and determine the nature of the problem.

A large number of 911 calls are accidental calls, where the caller had no intention of dialing 911 and may not even realize that he has done so. These calls fall under one of three categories: human error, equipment malfunction and the strange.

Human error accounts for a large percentage of accidental calls. Common sources for these types of calls include:

Children playing with a phone and not understanding that they are dialing 911
Children dialing a familiar number without any malicious intent
Prank calls meant to annoy and harass operators
Calls made for non-emergency reasons (Is there school today?)
Calls made by persons with psychiatric problems or while they are under the influence of alcohol or narcotics

Other common problems include calls made from inside a business where the caller must dial "9" to get an outside line; "fat-fingered" dialers who accidentally press an extra number; speed-dialers who miss a number; international callers who misdial country codes or forget to dial the international prefix, and auto-dial systems on wireless and memory phones where 911 has been programmed in as a short-cut key.

Equipment malfunctions occasionally leads to misdialed 911 calls. Sometimes during a rain storm the rain enters a phone line through a hole in insulation (rodents and animals chew holes through it) and creates static in the line. This static can cause an event similar to a short circuit that results in a dial to 911. Wireless home phones are also popular 911 callers. During the late 1990's several phones dialed 911 when their batteries ran low from being off the receiver.

The strange calls happen for a variety of reasons and out of a variety of circumstances. Every once in a while a report of a pet dialing 911 surfaces - be it a bird pecking at seeds that fell on the phone or a dog or cat walking over the phone. There is even a report of a rotting tomato dripping onto a phone which caused the phone to dial 911. And of course, criminals have called 911 by mistake and then hung up the phone, which prompted a police response to the location.

To help prevent accidental calls, do not program your phones with a short-cut key or auto-dialer to 911. If you are using a cell phone, make sure the emergency call feature is turned off and use either a flip phone or lock your keypad before putting the phone where keys may be pressed accidentally (like a pocket or purse). Teach children that they should only call 911 in an emergency.

A - The Enhanced 911 system automatically displays the address of the emergency caller and the telephone number at that location on a screen at the 911 Communications Center. This information allows the calltaker to be able to send help in an emergency where a caller is not able to speak or has disconnected the call.

A - The NH Bureau of Emergency Communications has a connection with a language line. This allows the call-taker to create a conference call and have a translator available within 1 minute that speaks one of hundreds of languages. This is a great asset to the 911 center.

A - 911 should be used for emergency purposes only. To see if school is closed during inclement weather please watch the appropriate TV stations.

A - All the information is displayed even though the caller has hung up. The 911 center will attempt a call-back to see if there is an emergency. The dispatcher may send a police unit to verify the situation. See the silent 911 call page for more information.