[toloxo]

Hi,
When I've had to place a 911 call on my BB Pearl, it beeps approximately 3 times extremly loudly, and sounds like an NBA final play buzzer (and attracts attention like on too)

My problem: Its not the safest feature when you are reporting a crime to the police and the BB is reporting your 911 call to the drug dealer. I understand the importance of preventing inadvertant 911 calls (presumably why it beeps like you've won something on the Price is Right) but this would be great to DISABLE. Nothing like your BB Beeping, Flashing, and Screaming like its about to turn into a bomb!?!?!?!

Yes, I end up calling 911 often because I live right next to a head shop and drug dealers hang out next to there. The police have asked us to help by reporting crimes when we see them so that they can log the calls to get more police in our area.

Any suggestions?

[adugan]

I too am wondering the same thing after I actually had an attempted robber chase me after I got away from him then heard my phone beep when I called 911. Luckily I got away and the cops eventually caught him. But I have to think there is a more discreet way to call 911.

[vndlewis]

Hmmm my pearl doesn't do that. I had to call 911 just the other day.

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[kvaughan]

Any suggestions?

Call a non emergency number to report that non emergency criminal activity.

[noaim]

Call a non emergency number to report that non emergency criminal activity.

this isn't a solution

example im sleeping and I hear a burglar break into the window in the living room I grab my phone to call 911 and the thing beeps 3 times really loud...

not the best thing to happen IMO

[rockigirl]

I haven't experienced this on my bb but I've heard about this issue before. I'm not sure you can turn off the beeps. Maybe they put the feature on the phone to prevent accidental 911 calls. If you hear the 3 beeps you can quickly hang up etc. Anyway, I completely agree that the 3 beeps are useless and can be potentially dangerous.

[mperkel#CB]

Suggestion (not a fix): find the local emergency number, I use this for my University because it is close to a highway. Save that number.

[kvaughan]

If you hear the 3 beeps you can quickly hang up etc.

Won't work. The call will show up in the PSAP as a 911 hang up even if you hang up before the phone rings.

this isn't a solution

example im sleeping and I hear a burglar break into the window in the living room I grab my phone to call 911 and the thing beeps 3 times really loud...

not the best thing to happen IMO

My solution for that one: grab your gun before your phone


I am not sure there is a fix for the 911 beeping. I would suspect it may be something regulated by the FCC possibly? I remember seeing a thread on a different forum about Sprint and VZW dumb phones doing this also.

[toloxo]

Calling a non-emergency number won't work in Austin. We've tried calling 311 (which is the citys non-emergency #), and a host of other numbers but each time we've done this they've asked us to hang up and call 911.

Unfortunately both the city and my BB aren't super smart..., which I guess makes me downright stupid.

[ppbb]

Hi,
When I've had to place a 911 call on my BB Pearl, it beeps approximately 3 times extremly loudly, and sounds like an NBA final play buzzer (and attracts attention like on too)

My problem: Its not the safest feature when you are reporting a crime to the police and the BB is reporting your 911 call to the drug dealer. I understand the importance of preventing inadvertant 911 calls (presumably why it beeps like you've won something on the Price is Right) but this would be great to DISABLE. Nothing like your BB Beeping, Flashing, and Screaming like its about to turn into a bomb!?!?!?!

Yes, I end up calling 911 often because I live right next to a head shop and drug dealers hang out next to there. The police have asked us to help by reporting crimes when we see them so that they can log the calls to get more police in our area.

Any suggestions?

can't you just call the local police department? i understand that you need to report criminal activity, but unless if your in immediate danger you should stay off the 911 system and keep the lines open for a real emergency. some drug dealers hanging out in front of a headshop is not what i consider to be a life threatening emergency.

if someone needs an ambulance, building is on fire, reporting a major car accident with possible fatalities - these all seem like legit reasons to use 911. but to report suspicious people in front of a head shop? sorry, but it just does not seem like you need to use the 911 system for that.

if your life is in danger, of course that is different. maybe i am not understanding the whole picture here.

[KG1]

If she wants to call 911 let her. That is not the question here. She just wants the phone to hush up and there doesn't seem to be an answer.

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[ppbb]

If she wants to call 911 let her. That is not the question here. She just wants the phone to hush up and there doesn't seem to be an answer.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

she can call 911 to her hearts content. fact is 911 is for emergencies. dumb drug dealers who hang out in front of a head shop will get arrested soon enough. we don't need her to clog up the 911 system to report suspicious looking people.

there must be a compelling reason why it beeps like that. sorry, i realize the thread is asking a technical question about why the phone beeps. but the op did state why she was using 911 and i seem to have an issue with using 911 for non-emergency related calls.

[mikebchicago]

can't you just call the local police department? i understand that you need to report criminal activity, but unless if your in immediate danger you should stay off the 911 system and keep the lines open for a real emergency. some drug dealers hanging out in front of a headshop is not what i consider to be a life threatening emergency.

if someone needs an ambulance, building is on fire, reporting a major car accident with possible fatalities - these all seem like legit reasons to use 911. but to report suspicious people in front of a head shop? sorry, but it just does not seem like you need to use the 911 system for that.

if your life is in danger, of course that is different. maybe i am not understanding the whole picture here.

that may be the case in your city, but perhaps it isn't the case in hers. I live in Chicago and have called 311 plenty of times to report drug dealers, and every time I have, they've told me to hang up and call 911.

[teal]

Sems like a RIM or Carrier issue. She has the right to call 911 and not have the resulting noise. I am lucky that I have not had to call 911 yet so do not know if it would happen on my phone. My past PDAs did not do this.

[leftcoaster]

9-1-1 is always the preferable choice. Those operators can route you to the appropriate agency. Sometimes a highway emergency (dangerous driver, accident, road rage) requires an instant notification, but no "non-emergency" number will make its way to dispatch without your actually calling 9-1-1.

[vndlewis]

No matter what reason you call, we are instructed to call 911 where I live. And drug dealing is an emergency in my eyes. Too many shootings around here.

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[tech42er]

Call a non emergency number to report that non emergency criminal activity.

If it's dangerous criminal activity, 911 is appropriate. The OP isn't talking about jaywalking or speeding.

[Randon]

ok, aside from debating what the op should or should not do, there are no solid answers for the ACTUAL problem, which is: BB's alerting everyone where you are and what you're doing when in most situations one would need to dial 911 it is the exact wrong thing to happen...

so, in the interest of clarity after sifting through these posts, it seems as though some BBs do it, some don't and there is no option to disable it on those that do even though there should be for safety purposes. correct?

[tkerugger]

Maybe the BlackBerry alerts you b/c people have inadvertantly dialed 911 in the past...wasn't there a post here on crackberry about that somewhat recently? My Treo used to try to make emergency calls in my pocket all the time...

And, where's this head shop?

-neil

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[kvaughan]

I understand now why the 911 system is as clogged as it is. You people have no understanding of the prioritizing of calls.

[vndlewis]

I understand now why the 911 system is as clogged as it is. You people have no understanding of the prioritizing of calls.

I do understand priortizing calls. YOU don't seem to understand that non-emergency numbers mean nothing in some areas. I am being told that ALL calls have to go through 911. Would you rather me not report a wreck or not report that the elderly man seems stranded on the highway in the snow storm or report the car in front of me is swerving all over the road since when I take/took the time to call another number I was told to hang up and call 911?

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[matt91]

I understand now why the 911 system is as clogged as it is. You people have no understanding of the prioritizing of calls.

Washington DC recently revamped their 911 call center.

Now *all* police related calls are to go to 911 - only city services go to 311.

***
POLICE RELATED CALLS MUST BE CALLED INTO 911…311 will now be used for
the Mayors Customer Service Requests.

911 – all police related matters – emergency and non emergency, need of
ambulance, fires

311- all other governmental agency requests/city services – cars towed,
streetlights replaced, streets repaired, animal issues, abandoned
vehicles, trees trimmed, trash pick ups, etc..

[kvaughan]

I do understand priortizing calls. YOU don't seem to understand that non-emergency numbers mean nothing in some areas. I am being told that ALL calls have to go through 911. Would you rather me not report a wreck or not report that the elderly man seems stranded on the highway in the snow storm or report the car in front of me is swerving all over the road since when I take/took the time to call another number I was told to hang up and call 911?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

You don't want to hear my view on that question.

[vndlewis]

You don't want to hear my view on that question.

Well I hope to God if I ever need help that you are not the person who drives by.

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[leftcoaster]

Well I hope to God if I ever need help that you are not the person who drives by.

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From everything I've read, there's no chance you will ever do anything imperfectly, or otherwise have anything out of order in your life. So you're good to go.