• The KaneComm 9-1-1 Tip of the Month offers tips that can save your life. Remember that 9-1-1 is for emergencies, potential emergencies or when an emergency is about to happen, such as when you need the police, fire department or an ambulance right away.

We asked 9-1-1 telecommunicators in Kane County to let us know the top tips to keep residents safe. Here’s the second in the series.

Tip of the Month

If you dial 9-1-1 by mistake, don’t hang up. Stay on the line and answer the telecommunicator’s questions. He or she wants to make sure you’re safe!

Why Is It So Important?

• If you hang up, the 9-1-1 telecommunicator will call you right back to confirm you’re OK.
• Many times, a 9-1-1 hang-up is an actual emergency. If you call from your landline at your home or office, KaneComm will have your address as well as phone number.
• If a KaneComm telecommunicator calls you back and you don’t answer, he or she will create a call for service, and police may respond to verify there’s not an emergency.
• Police may even respond to a misdial from a cell phone if the telecommunicator hears something (from the caller or in the background) that doesn’t seem right.
• All of these actions cost time and taxpayer dollars and could take resources away from other needed services.

What You Might Not Know

• The caller ID from KaneComm’s call back will be from a non-emergency line.
• Even if you didn’t hear it ring,  the call still went through to 9-1-1.
• From Jan. 1, 2015, to date, KaneComm has received 5,542 9-1-1 hangup calls. That’s about 16 hang-ups a day!  Each of those hang-ups has received a call back. (So, that’s another 5,542 outgoing calls.) Of those,  police have responded to approximately 1,007 of the hang-ups to confirm everything is OK.

Want More Info?

KaneComm recommends these websites:

• KaneComm web page
• 911.gov — National 9-1-1- Office
• icc.illinois.gov/911/ — Illinois Commerce Commission’s 9-1-1 Program
• www.il911info.org
• www.911callers.com

About KaneComm

Kane County Emergency Communications (KaneComm) is a multi-jurisdictional dispatch center responsible for the deployment of several police, fire, and medical agencies located within Kane County. KaneComm personnel are tasked with all of the incoming emergency and non-emergency calls for assistance from citizens residing in these jurisdictions. Subscribers to KaneComm include the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, police departments from Wayne, Gilberts, Hampshire, Maple Park, Pingree Grove, Campton Hills, Fox Valley Park District, Kane County Forest Preserve District and South Elgin, and the fire districts of Burlington, Hampshire, Maple Park, Pingree Grove, Fox River, Big Rock and Kaneville. For more information, visit the KaneComm web page.

Other 9-1-1 Agencies in Kane County

• TRI COM CENTRAL, dispatches for:
  • St. Charles Police/Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • Geneva Police/Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • Batavia Police/Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • Elburn Police/Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • Sugar Grove Police/Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • Waubonsee Cadets
  • North Aurora Fire/Emergency Medical Services

• AURORA CENTRAL dispatches for:
  • Aurora Police/Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • North Aurora Police

• QUAD COM, dispatches for:
  • Carpentersville Police/Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • West Dundee Police/Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • East Dundee Police/Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • Sleepy Hollow Police
  • South Barrington Police
  • Rutland Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • Barrington Hills Police

• ELGIN POLICE DEPARTMENT, dispatches for:
  • Elgin Police/Fire/Emergency Medical Services
  • South Elgin Fire/Emergency Medical Services

Read the Series

• 9-1-1 Tip of the Month: Provide Your Location, Location, Location