Macedonia Police Chief Jon Golden took to Facebook this week to issue a stern message to residents — don’t treat emergency dispatchers as a general information service.
Police were flooded with phone calls last week during a power outage making it difficult for dispatchers to respond to real emergencies.
Callers to 911 and other emergency lines kept asking why power was out and when it would be restored.
The deluge of questions best suited for the utility company struck a nerve with the chief who took to social media to vent his frustration and ask residents to use a little common sense.
“STOP! DO NOT CALL THE POLICE DEPT FOR THIS OR ANY OTHER INFORMATION,” Golden posted this week in all caps on the police Facebook page.
The post has generated plenty of media attention and responses, most of them supportive of Golden’s stance.
“If your toilet is clogged. Who would you call!! If your oven is broke who would you call!!! Let’s think about it. Use COMMON SENSE!,” one woman posted in response.
Golden said Wednesday that he didn’t intend to offend or insult anyone. Instead, he said, he wants to change the way residents think and reduce the number of non-emergency calls in the future.
People calling emergency lines for non-emergency situations is a common problem in law enforcement and not isolated to Macedonia.
The chief said dispatchers often field questions such as “What’s the number for the post office? What’s the address for Walmart?”
The dispatchers are always courteous and try to help even in those situations, the chief said.
Golden added he doesn’t want to discourage anyone from calling in a real emergency or reporting seeing or hearing anything unusual.
He just doesn’t want dispatchers tied up answering general information questions.
“I’m hoping this causes people to think before they dial next time,” Golden said.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ.