Can Police & Fire Rescue Personnel Get To Your EXACT Location In Case Of An Emergency?

In case of any emergency at home or work, it's a good idea to make sure that your residential and workplace telephone numbers as well as your physical addresses for these locations actually shows up in the dispatch records system of your local Emergency Communications Center (EOC).

Unfortunately many times home and even business telephone numbers and physical addresses may not be up-to-date in the emergency communications dispatch center computer system and when seconds really count, knowing exactly where you are calling from can help police and fire first responders get to you as quickly as possible.

Another reason for making sure your exact physical address actually shows up in the communications center computer system is so that in the event you are dealing with say, an intruder, a fire or medical emergency in your home or workplace, merely dialing "9-1-1" and not providing any verbal communication will most likely result in the authorities being dispatched to your location anyway to investigate what is commonly referred to as an “Investigate The Unknown Trouble” call where police officers will actually show-up just to make sure everything is okay.

As a police officer, I get dispatched to these types of calls on a regular basis and it is better to have the police respond and make sure everything is okay than not taking any action at all. Also keep in mind if you live or work in a building with lots of tenants, this could pose an additional problem for first responders because even when they arrive at your building's address, they still need to ascertain exactly which residential unit or business suite is involved and then determine how they will approach that location based on the nature of the call.

In order to make sure that your home and/or business telephone number along with your exact physical address actually shows up in your local Emergency Communications Center system, simply call the non-emergency phone number for your EOC and let them know that you want to test your residential or workplace telephone number to make sure it shows up in their emergency communications system in case of any emergency. They'll be able to instruct you regarding their exact procedures for conducting the test. Keep in mind, that this strategy only applies to actual landline telephones, NOT cellular phones.
 
Til Next Time,
 
Be Vigilant, Be Prepared, Be Safe!
 
Alfred McComber, The Personal Safety Guy