Don't Call 911 On Your Cellphone In El Dorado County—Use This Number Instead
EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) — In an emergency, your first instinct may be to dial 911, but the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office is asking residents to dial something longer for faster results.
In an emergency, time is your enemy and every second counts, but calling 911 with your cellphone in El Dorado County may not be your fastest option.
For dispatcher Courtney Barbot and her team, a busy day at the dispatch center may mean 650 emergency calls a day. Some of those calls come straight to them, but others may need to be transferred from another agency.
"When you call 911 from your cellphone depending on where you are geographically it could potentially go to CHP when you actually need the sheriff's office," she said.
Given the rural nature of El Dorado County, the majority of the 911 calls made on cellphones go to the California Highway Patrol dispatch center in Sacramento. There, the CHP first gathers the information from the caller and then determines the agency that needs to address it.
The delay could take up to 2 minutes—costly time in an emergency.
"Just depends on how receptive the caller is, how fast they talk, his upset they are, on how quickly it's transferred from highway patrol to the agency it needs to go to," she said.
Now the sheriff's office recommends avoiding calling 911 on cellphones, and instead using (530) 626-4911. That number goes straight to the call center.
"It's instant, 24/7 every day, they're gonna get a dispatcher immediately," she said.
