When NOT to call 911.

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911 should only be called for actual emergencies. For non emergencies, like to make noise complaints, the non emergency police number should be used. Using 911 for non emergencies ties up the line.

Also, don't call 911 if you're in Australia.
The number is 000

In the modern days of smartphones it is easy to get the local nonemergency police number. Do not call 911 for minor things like noise complaints. Only call 911 for actual emergencies.

Not sure it should be the job of 911 operators to transfer people calling for non-emergencies to the non-emergency line. Wouldn't it be quicker to just tell the caller they need to call a non-emergency line and just hang up on them?

you can call 911 in australia. it automatically redirects to 000

^ It is not supposed to work and the Australian Communications and Media Authority explicitly advises that 911 is not an emergency number in Australia. It was at one point an actual area code in parts of Australia, which was reportedly one of the reasons why it was not chosen as the emergency number.

Some mobile handsets are programmed to recognise 911 (and sometimes also 999) as an emergency number, and will automatically redirect these to 000. This is done by the phone itself, though, and it sends the call out as an emergency call. The actual number 911 does not work as an emergency number in Australia.

In certain areas 911 redirects to the local emergency number.

In Canada 911 didn't become the emergency number to call until a few years after it did in the US. Not long ago there were some grown adults where I live who were making fake emergency calls to 911 and were caught. Hopefully they had to pay a heavy fine for their stupidity.