There are several causes of accidental 911 calls. There is of course the well known "pocket dialing" but there is also accidental dialing by children.
Children are sometimes given an old cell phone. Since the phone is no longer in service, not connected to the system and, in many cases, has no number, it seems safe to put a battery in it, and give it to a child to play games on, or just play with.
What must people don't realize is that, by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules, all phones in the United States are required to be capable of dialing and connecting with 911 emergency services.
Surprisingly, just about any telephone line in the United States will connect to a 911 dispatcher if 911 is dialed. For cell phones, all that is required is battery power and a tower in range of the phone. This is an FCC requirement. In fact, since 2005, even the internet telephone companies, known as VoIP or voice internet telephone services, have been required to provide emergency 911 services to all of their customers.
To demonstrate that any cell phone with battery power is capable of dialing 911, Moniteau County 911 Emergency Dispatch Center Administrator Corey Sullivan used a locked phone, pushed 9-1-1, and demonstrated the phone would call the 911 dispatch center.
He said this is useful at times, such as hunter out in the field who could require assistance. Not wanting to be called while hunting a deer or turkey, hunters will sometimes take an old phone with them, putting in a battery and turning it on, only to be used in case of an emergency. Accidental 911 calls are problem. Not only do they take up the time of 911 Dispatchers when they might be needed on calls from people in need of assistance, they also take time to track down the caller. The accidental caller sometimes does not know the phone is live and doesn't hear the questions of the dispatcher. Sometimes, because the caller knew an accidental call was made, and the call was ended immediately, it is thought that it makes no difference.
According to Sullivan, it does make a difference, because each call is followed up on, if at all possible. That takes not only the time of the dispatchers, but sometimes by law enforcement officers responding to the scene to determine if there is a problem.
The accidental calls, as well as prank calls, take time to deal with - time which may be needed to deal with an actual emergency.