What to Avoid When Calling 911

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Police said there is a chance you could get a recording when you call 911 but they said if you hang up and keep calling back, it will only make it worse.

Three men have been arrested for the murder of a 24-year-old mother of two, on Northmeade this weekend.

18-year-old Kenneth Brown, 20-year-old David Richardson and 19-year-old Devon Brown each face murder and gun charges.

The victim's uncle said he tried calling 911 Sunday night, but got a recording instead of an operator.

Sunday, Felix Williams' niece was shot in the head on Northmeade. His first instinct was to call 911 but he said, he got a recorded message.

Williams said he hung up. He called back two more times.

"I never did get through. My last phone call, the answering service picked up when police were pulling down the street," Williams said.

Police said the recording, kicks in when there's a high volume of calls.
But they said hanging up and redialing 911 is the worst thing someone can do.

"By hanging up and calling back and hoping someone will pick up or it will kick somewhere else, it's not going to happen. You're going to get thrown to the back of the line," Karen Rudolph with Memphis Police said.

Not only that, police said dispatchers will be tied up, trying to return your original call that stays in the system. They're required to call back hang-up calls, at least twice.

"If you hang up and call back while they're trying to call you a lot of times we don't get an answer, we receive voicemail or a busy signal so we continue to call," Rudolph said.

Think of it as a horrible game of phone tag.

Police said during the hour Williams called, there was a high volume of calls which they attribute to the Fourth of July holiday.

The average delay in answering 911 calls, during that hour, was 41 seconds.

That's not typical.

Police said their average daily delay is 22 seconds, which is in line with what the National Emergency Number Association recommends.

Still, they realize it's frustrating.

"I understand when an emergency occurs you want someone to answer the phone and we're doing the best we can in answering them," said Rudolph.

In Williams' case, he never did get through to 911. His niece died.

But police were dispatched to the location by someone who called 911, 40 seconds before Williams did and stayed on the line.

Rudolph said, "I understand the situation he was in, he wanted help and to hear voicemail or not get an answer on the first ring it can be frustrating but we're going to get to him as soon as we possibly can."

Police said they've had the 911 recorded messages for at least 5 years. They said sometimes the system will get bogged down with non-emergency calls as well.

Remember the non-emergency police phone number is 545-COPS (2677).