Calls to Boone County 911 increase in 2014

Calls made to 911 in Boone County have jumped again, for the seventh year in a row.

This last year, 911 calls were up 7 percent, averaging out to roughly 226 calls per day.

But calls to the administrative, or non-emergency, line were down about 8 percent, which is almost equal to the amount 911 calls were up.

Joe Piper, with Columbia/Boone County Joint Communications, said this could mean the reason for the increase in 911 calls is because more people are calling 911 with things that are not emergencies rather than the non-emergency number.

“So this is the perfect time to remind folks that 911 is there for emergencies, but let’s try to only use it for an emergency,” Piper said.

He said fires, anything that requires an ambulance, any crime in progress or and other situation where there is immediate danger constitutes as an emergency. Everything else, even if it requires a police dispatch, should be called into the non-emergency line.

“The call will still be answered, it just puts priority on the 911 calls which is what we want,” Piper said.

Especially when there are only one or two people answering the 911 calls in Boone County at a time, calling that non-emergency number could help save a life and keep the line open for someone who needs it.

Overall, the number of phone interactions — which includes emergency and non-emergency calls, as well as calls made to dispatch or calls back — was actually down by 4 percent last year.

The number for the non-emergency line is: 573-442-6131.