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 The Town of Hanover has notified Dartmouth College that
a large number of inadvertent calls to 911 originate from the College. Each of
these calls (approximately 100 every month) require an emergency response from
both the Town of Hanover and the College's Department of Safety and Security.
We have identified the 9+ dialing procedure currently in use at Dartmouth as
the main culprit in these unintended calls to 911. In an effort to minimize
these calls and the emergency responses they require, the College has decided
to move to 8+ dialing. We expect this new dialing plan to eliminate most, if
not all, inadvertent 911 calls.
In cooperation with the Town of Hanover and the State of New Hampshire,
Dartmouth College has reprogrammed their phone system to allow dialing of the
number "8" instead of "9" to place calls to off-campus
numbers. Beginning July 1, 2004, calls to off-campus numbers should be dialed
using the digit 8 instead of 9. During the month of July, either dialing
procedure will work. However, after the one month "grace period"
expires, dialing the digit 9 will be reserved for 911 emergency calls only and
will not work for other calls.
We appreciate your cooperation in using the new dialing procedure and in
passing this information along to others in your department. We feel this will
go a long way toward eliminating errant calls to 911 and in leaving emergency
resources free to respond to true emergencies.
By Laurie Pollard
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