WEBVTT - How Did Dialing 9-1-1 Become a Thing? 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.559 You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:11.760 and iHeartRadio. Guess what? 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:12.880 Well, what's that Mango? 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:15.800 So? I was giving this old piece in Popular Mechanics 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.600 this week, and this one line caught my eye. Did 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.919 you know that the vehicle from Ghostbusters, the original ectomobile, 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:23.320 is actually a hearse? 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:25.239 You know? One thing I feel like I do know 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.240 is we've talked a lot about Ghostbusters on this show recently. 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:30.080 Have you noticed that I have? 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:32.800 Anyway? I guess I didn't really think about it, but 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.360 that does make sense. It's got such a weird shape 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:36.320 to the car. 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.400 Yeah, the director sort of souped it up. And apparently 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.120 the original design for the Ghostbuster's car was black with 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:45.279 purple streaks across the doors, and then they painted out 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:48.280 white and added some other modifications. But the thing that's 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:50.600 interesting to me is that the car isn't just a hearse. 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.640 The model's actually called a combination car. Because hearses from 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:59.000 the nineteen fifties weren't just hearses. They also worked as ambulances. 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:03.320 According to Popular Mechanics quote, hearses from funeral homes pulled 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:05.959 double duty, and the funeral home employees didn't have much 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.360 in the way of instruction beyond drive fast because the 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:11.880 EMPT as a concept was still a few years off. 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:14.120 So why didn't people just call nine one one? And 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.080 we're talking about the nineteen fifties, right. 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:18.920 I guess nine only one wasn't a national thing yet, 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.920 and ambulances and EMPT services hadn't really been formalized either. 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:25.560 That really starts in the mid to late sixties. So 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:28.360 the funeral homes already have these cars that can carry 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.800 people laying down. Funeral directors are just up at all hours, 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:35.120 and for them it's the way to make extra money. Plus, 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.360 from a more cynical perspective, if a patient doesn't make it, 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:41.680 you've gotten an easy referral. According to the Journal, this 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:46.319 paper from Ontario, Canada quote these ambulances not only took 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.400 the injury to the hospital, they transported patients to and 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:52.280 from nursing homes and even gave newborn babies and their 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.000 mothers a lift home. The equipment was often sparse, a stretcher, 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.000 a blanket, a first aid kit, and of course, in 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.800 earlier iteration, it points out they'd have a bottle of 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.880 whiskey to numb the pain. I mean, I can't imagine, 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.080 and I don't want to think about this sort of thing, 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:10.359 but like, imagine your granddad falling down some stairs or 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:10.960 something like that. 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.280 The idea of calling a funeral home to help with 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.359 this problem just feels so morbid. 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.600 You know, I know which God is wondering when did 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.360 emergency hotlines and nine on one change all of that? 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:24.680 So that's what we're talking about this episode. Let's dive in. 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:49.000 Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome back to Part Time Genius. 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:51.440 I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joining with my 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:54.440 good friend Mango, and sitting somewhere behind that big booth 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:57.920 is our pal Dylan. He's got a bottle of Emergency 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.359 nine sauce and see SEMs to be pouring it on 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.120 everything he's eating back once he got back. If I 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.760 were doing that, I would be sweating. He's I don't 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.679 see one drout of sweat on the guy, but he's 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.360 got I mean, it looks like he's got a burrito. 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:14.440 A hot dog. 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:18.720 I think that's a cobb salad bart. Mango, I spot 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:20.640 a banana, but what are you doing? 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:24.440 I'm so glad he also has a big jug of 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.800 milk back there to calm it all down, or else 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.239 we'd have to call nine one one. But speaking of 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.760 nine one one, which translates his emergency to us these days, 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:34.800 why don't you give us a rundown on how that 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:35.600 number came to be. 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:37.840 Well, as you said at the top of the show, here, 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:40.960 nine one one is a relatively modern thing nationally ethic. 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:42.880 That was the thing that surprised me most as we 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.280 started looking into it. But it actually wasn't until nineteen 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.880 sixty seven that the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:54.480 Administration of Justice recommended that quote, a single number should 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.280 be established, and this would be nationwide. It would be 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.880 for reporting any emergency situation. 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:03.560 So what happened before that, I mean other than calling up, 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.760 like you know, your local funeral director with right, everyone 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:08.040 obviously has on speed dial. 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:09.480 That's exactly right. 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.400 Well, there used to be different numbers for different kinds 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.200 of emergencies, and we will get to that. But back 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:18.440 in nineteen sixty seven, the FCC met with the American 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:22.119 Telephone and Telegraph Company we know them today as AT 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:24.080 and T. Actually, that was another thing I learned. I 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.520 didn't know that that's what that had stood for. But 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:30.119 to find a means of establishing a universal emergency number 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.640 that could be implemented super quickly. So in nineteen sixty eight, 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:36.200 AT and T announced that it would establish the digits 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:39.680 nine to one one as the emergency code throughout the 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:43.320 United States. But weirdly, it wasn't until the Public Safety 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.920 Act of nineteen ninety nine MANGO nineteen ninety nine. We 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.000 were in college at the time that nine to one 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:53.760 one was officially established as the nation's emergency calling number. 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:56.320 That is insane that it took that long. 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.800 Yeah, it was actually Bill Clinton who signed the law 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.920 ensuring that the FCC controlled nine one one and that 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:04.720 it had a budget to oversee the number, which is 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.440 when it became officially the law of the land. 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.040 But people were calling nine one one for decades before that, right. 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:13.800 Yeah, So the first nine one one call actually took 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:16.839 place in my home state in Haleyville, Alabama. And this 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.600 was in nineteen sixty eight, and it's still celebrated today. 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.640 And do I mean celebrating, you know, have all sorts 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:25.640 of weird things. You know, We've got that the big 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.400 statue to the Bowl weavil and enterprise out and we 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.280 love celebrating our super weird things there. But there's a 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.600 sign there that says Haileyville where nine one one began, 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.400 which is such a weird thing. But there are also 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.719 banners hanging from street lights that have the town seal 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.679 on it that you know, shows this red phone receiver 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.640 and the words home of nine one one. Again, it 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:50.280 just feels like a really weird message to send. But also, 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:54.480 there's literally a nine one one festival in Haleyville every June, 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:56.320 So I don't know if you've booked your tickets yet. 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:56.920 I haven't. 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:58.880 I mean, I'm not sure that the Home of nine 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.200 one one is really that big a draw for me, 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.520 and it feels weird to want to go to somewhere 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.520 where they have so many emergencies. But I am curious 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.480 about this festival. How do you celebrate a phone number? 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:12.600 Well, if you think about it, there are some things 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.440 to celebrate, Like really, it's a festival to celebrate first responders, 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:19.000 so that's pretty great. They obviously work super hard save 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:23.320 a lot of lives. There's a parade, some first responder awards. Also, 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:25.360 you know, given where it is, there's a tractor show, 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.080 so that's the fun part too. And then obviously there's 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:30.040 got to be a cornhole tournament to sort of round 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:30.560 things out. 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:34.400 You know, that sounds perfect, but the history. 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.560 Is pretty interesting. So back in the nineteen sixties, there 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:40.640 were all these regional telephone companies. So when AT and 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.280 T and the FCC decided that three numbers to use 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:45.560 would be nine to one pint one, the president of 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:49.320 the Alabama Telephone Company, his name was Bob Gallagher, read 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.560 about the decision and was upset that independent carriers were 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:56.120 left out of the conversation. So he basically rushed to 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.719 establish a nine to one to one system as fast 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:01.680 as possible. He wanted to beat AT and T to 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:03.960 the punch, and it took less than a week to 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:07.680 set up, and on February sixteenth, nineteen sixty eight, the 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:11.600 red emergency phone in Haleyville rang for the first time. 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.720 I love that there's actually like a red phone there. 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:16.560 It's amazing. 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:19.840 It's literally on the town seal and all those banners, 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.679 and it's also it's weird to me, like, before looking 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.240 into all of this, I actually did not know that 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.280 this all started in my home state. 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.560 That's wonderful. Well, what number would you call if you 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.200 had an emergency? Like one year before that, in nineteen 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:33.840 sixty six. 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:36.760 Well up until that point, people would just dial zero 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.480 and then they would tell the operators. Sometimes we forget 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.520 about that, right, the existence of operators, And you can 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:46.120 imagine this was a pretty stressful situation. So the telephone 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:50.640 company operators weren't necessarily trained on these emergency services. But 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.320 phone lines had been the go to for reporting emergencies 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:57.000 since the early nineteen hundred, So way back, the founders 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:01.040 of the communications giant Ericson actually developed a portable phone 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.800 handset and this crank that could be hooked to these 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:07.480 like bare phone wires, and you'd actually place these two 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:10.920 metal hooks inside it over these telephone wires to form 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.920 the connection and then crank the handbox to create a 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.880 signal that would hopefully be answered by someone on the line. 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:18.560 This seems like a lot to figure out in these 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:19.880 emergency situations. 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.200 It's insane. So like if there was like a hot 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.240 air balloon crash, or a guy with a handlebar mustache 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.080 riding too fast in his unicycle, this is the contraction 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:29.040 you'd have to use. 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.760 That's exactly, and those were two of the most common 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.600 injuries and emergencies. But it turns out people use the 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.520 crank and hook thing for some pretty important things, Like 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.320 way back in nineteen oh seven, somebody used one to 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.600 report a train robbery and it actually contributed to the 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:45.920 arrest of the outlaws. 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:47.360 That's incredible. 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.440 And here's actually, it's just so fun to read about 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.800 some of these old ones. Here's one more old time nuggeting. 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:54.400 Part of the reason we actually have some early emergency 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:58.600 regulations is because of the Titanic. So basically, when people 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:01.800 on the ship realized that were in trouble, the Titanic 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:05.000 radio operator signaled for help. And it turns out there 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.480 was one ship close by that was capable of offering aid, 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.760 but the operator was off duty and the signal was 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:16.800 never actually received, which is obviously a tragic situation. So 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.520 in response, Congress passed the Radio Act of nineteen twelve, 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:24.560 requiring all seagoing vessels to have a licensed radio operator 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.839 on duty at all times. And this was to continuously 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:32.040 monitor these distress frequencies. And that's what kickstarted the relationship 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:35.160 between emergency communications and governance. 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:38.920 It's interesting that that's one of the legacies of the Titanic. 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:41.800 You know, I never would have guessed that, but I 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:43.880 guess it kind of makes sense that it takes a 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.600 big tragedy to spur some big change like that. Like 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.400 in the UK, instead of nine one one, they have 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:52.160 nine to ninety nine. And it's actually the world's oldest 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.280 emergency phone service. It dates back to nineteen thirty five. 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.800 But again it comes about because of a tragedy. There 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.320 was a deadly fire in London in on Wimpole Street 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.640 and five women ended up dying. The neighbors did try 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.040 to help. They all dialed zero for the switchboard, but 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:09.280 it was jammed with so many calls that they couldn't 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:10.760 alert anyone of the fire. 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:13.880 And so I'm curious, So how did they settle on 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:15.240 those numbers nine to nine to nine. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.760 The General Post Office, which ran the telephone network, proposed 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.439 a three digit number that could trigger a special signal 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.240 and a flashing light at the exchange and then the 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:28.280 operators could divert their attention and you know, get these 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:31.280 priority calls. But they just had to pick three numbers. 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:34.320 People thought an end number was a good choice, so 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:37.320 you know, you could find it easily if you're reaching 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.240 for your phone in the dark or in thick smoke. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.319 So like one one one was rejected because it could 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.679 be triggered by faulty equipment or rubbing telephone lines together. 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:49.040 I guess two two two was already taken apparently connected 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:52.240 to the abbey, and zero zero zero didn't make any 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.320 sense because the first zero would already take you straight 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.000 to the operator. So they went with nine nine to nine, 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.520 and on June thirtieth, nineteen thirty seven, the Capitol's new 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.800 emergency telephone line was unveiled, and a week later, on 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.120 July seventh, nineteen thirty seven, the press reported at the 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:09.800 first arrest after a nine nine nine call, there was 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.440 a guy, John Stanley Beard. He was woken up in 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:14.880 the early hours of the morning by a noise underneath 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.800 his bedroom window, and when he looked outside, he saw 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.520 a single foot, a man's foot out there, and so 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:25.360 his wife down nine nine nine. In less than five minutes, 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:27.800 this burglar was arrested five minutes. 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.360 That's actually pretty amazing given everything. But so nine nine 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:31.960 nine pretty much worked immediately. 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.640 Uh, well, it didn't work perfectly. Of the about one thousand, 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:40.120 three hundred calls made that first week, ninety one were 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:40.800 prank calls. 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.160 Oh gosh, I mean, it feels so stupid but also 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:46.400 so human that as soon as the country gets this 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.720 emergency number, people would of course start making crank calls. 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:53.720 Yeah, especially after this very sober notice in the evening 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:56.079 News advised the public how to use nine nine to nine. 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.680 It reads, quote only dial nine ninety nine if the 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.160 matter is urgent. If, for instance, the man in the 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.720 flat next to yours is murdering his wife, or you 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.480 have seen a heavily masked cat burglar peering around the 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.840 stackpipe of the local bank building. If you've merely lost 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.240 a little towser or Lori has come to rest in 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:17.360 your front garden, just call up the local police end quotes, right. 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.400 I love the idea that someone putting their truck a 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:22.920 little too close to you, know, your azaleas is something 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:24.280 you should call nine one one about. 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.319 I'm pretty sure I told you this before. But my grandmother, 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:29.800 of course, Mamma, she would if we'd end up in 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:31.640 a traffic jam. Every once in a while, she would 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:33.480 want to pick up the phone and call nine one one, 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:35.360 and we'd have to stop her from doing that, just 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:37.920 to find out why there was a traffic jam. But 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:39.880 I mean, I guess they were just worried that the 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.480 emergency number would turn into this sort of like a 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:44.480 complaint line for cranky citizens. 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.120 Yeah, I mean, I guess that's fair. The other thing 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.160 about the line of that time is that the early 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.920 technology wasn't perfect, so when a call came in, operators 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.040 were alerted by this like big flashing red light and 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.439 a claxon, which is one of those like a wuga sirens. 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.480 So if you can imagine multiple calls coming in at once, 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.480 it's kind of nuts. A nineteen fifty one article in 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:11.760 the Post Office Telecommunications Journal described nine nine nine's early days. Quote, 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.480 when the raucous buzzer sounded in the quiet discipline switch rooms, 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.640 a few of the girls found the situation too much 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:19.600 for them and had to be carried out. 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:23.559 That sounds pretty awful, actually, but actually there are a 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.080 whole bunch of awugas and flashing lights going on over there. 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:27.840 I don't know if our listeners can hear that, which 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:30.000 I think Dylan is using to tell us it is 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:32.400 time to throw to commercials. So stay right there. We'll 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:36.880 be back with more Part Time Genius after the break. 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.000 Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're talking nine 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:55.840 to one to one and the various emergency lines around 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.400 the world. All right, megol let's jump over to Europe 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.080 and look at their emergency number, one one one two. 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:02.840 How did that come into existence? 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:05.520 So the idea for one one two started in the 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.920 early nineteen nineties. In July nineteen ninety one, the EU 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:12.800 decided that all member states would introduce a common emergency number, 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.000 but it wasn't until two thousand and two that one 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:19.640 one two became mandatory for all EU member states, And 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:23.840 the number does work in some other places, like Australia 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:27.160 uses a triple zero for their emergency number, although you 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.200 can also use one one two if you're calling from 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:30.200 a mobile phone. 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:31.760 Actually, that was one of the things I thought was 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.040 most interesting in the research of all of this, Like 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.880 if you're abroad and you dial your home country's emergency number, 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.280 often it'll just forward to whatever country you're in. Like, 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:43.760 if you dial one one two here in the States, 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.240 it fords to nine one one. 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.760 Yeah. I actually remember when I was on study abroad, 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:51.560 this kid on my trip was feeling sick from something 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.800 he'd eaten, and he was like super super dramatic and 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.080 he was like crawling on the floor to the phone 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:00.920 and trying to dial nine one one. But you know 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.400 it's a landline and then it doesn't go anywhere, So, 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:06.120 you know, it did make me think, like, I don't 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.320 know what you're supposed to do in emergency situations in 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.040 other countries, but I guess on cell phones have kind 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:12.600 of solved for that. Yeah, which is a great thing. 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.080 It is definitely a good thing. And today we have 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.200 what's called Enhance nine one one, which is what ninety 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.160 three percent of counties with nine to one one coverage have, 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.360 So basically nine one one systems have been upgraded to 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:28.280 accommodate for wireless calls and they share the caller's location 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:32.720 by iding the closest cell tower to the caller. I'm 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:34.120 sure you've heard about this as well. 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:36.800 Yeah, I feel like you hear a lot about that 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.880 on like NCIS type shows, or like in Cereal where 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.960 they're trying to triangulate a caller's location from cell phone towers. 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:45.800 But that feels like technology that's been around for a while. 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:49.360 That's true, but nine one one is always evolving. Like 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.640 right now, dispatch operators are transitioning to what's called Next 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:56.200 Generation nine one one or NG nine one one, which 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.960 will allow us to send things like texts and pictures 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.880 to our nine one providers. 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:05.720 Which is great, but I imagine with all the prank pictures 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.479 that might come to it's probably another opportunity for emergency 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:12.280 dispatches to remind nine one one users to use it appropriately. 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:14.600 Well, none of our listeners would ever do that. But 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.280 here's another interesting thing that I learned in my research, 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.640 and again it's an evolution because of a tragedy. But 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:22.840 you know, if you're in an office, you often have 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.240 to dial nine to reach an outside line, right yeah. 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:27.960 And sometimes in hotels too, right. 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.000 Yeah, exactly, And that's not the case if you're dialing 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:33.720 nine one one. So today, if you just dial nine 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.600 one one, it'll connect you. And that's because of this case. 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.880 In twenty thirteen, there was a woman named Carrie Hunt. 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:43.720 She was attacked and killed by her estranged husband in Marshall, Texas. 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:46.880 And this happened in a hotel room, and so Carrie's 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.160 nine year old daughter was in the room and trying 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.280 to call nine one one on the hotel phone. I mean, 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.840 just such a tragic situation. But she dialed nine one 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:58.560 one four times during the attack, but tragically none of 0:16:58.640 --> 0:16:59.600 those calls went through. 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:01.400 That is so awful. 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.400 Yeah. So ever since then, Carrie's father, a man named 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:07.880 Hank Hunt, has worked tirelessly with the FCC and Congress 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.000 to change the law so that nine is no longer 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.200 needed for nine one one calls from these multi line 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:17.480 systems like hotel phones, business phones, things like that. And 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.400 all these efforts paid off in twenty eighteen when Carrie's 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:24.840 law actually became this officially adopted law across the states. 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.560 That you know that that's really sad, but also seems 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:30.840 so obvious, right, Like, I guess we just don't think 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:32.399 of these things until we have to. 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:35.720 Yeah, And because arguably the multi line phone system is 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:39.399 a great technological advancement, but it didn't integrate naturally with 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:41.720 the nine one one system. And it's kind of the 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:44.720 same things with like smartphones and watches, but but really 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.399 more in the opposite direction. Like they've almost made calling 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:48.919 nine one one too easy. 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:51.200 Yeah. I think it's funny that every time I shut 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:52.879 my phone off, it offers me the option to call 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.560 emergency services, which you know is obviously a good thing, 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.359 but sometimes it does feel like my phone wants me 0:17:58.400 --> 0:17:59.200 to call nine one one. 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:00.919 Yeah, I mean, like, like you said, built in nine 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.199 one one features and smartphones are a net positive, but 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.360 they've definitely led to an increase in the accidental nine 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:10.679 one one calls. For instance, in India, for some reason, 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:13.600 if you or your kid or your pocket presses the 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:17.520 side button three times, your phone will dial one one two. 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.280 That's crazy. I go to India like every other year, 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:21.679 and I had no idea about this. 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:24.680 Glad that you haven't accidentally called nine or one one two, 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:26.919 I guess in that case. You know, in some smart 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.359 watches now include fall detection, so if your watch thinks 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.560 you fall in and can't get up, it will call 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.439 nine one one, which is a great safety feature. 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.399 Yeah, it's so smart. It's like such a boon for 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:40.600 people like us who might be worried about you know, 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:42.000 your parents or your in laws. 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:44.359 Yeah, but you can also imagine how it might cause 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.959 some problems too, Like at one Idaho ski resort this 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.640 past winter, this place called Schweitz Or Mountain, the sheriff's 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:55.280 office saw this dramatic increase in unwanted nine to one 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.480 one calls and people that were skiing and snowboarding and 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:00.840 they were just wiping out, which was triggering all this 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:03.760 fall detection on smart watches and it just kept calling 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:04.800 nine one one. 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.280 That's incredible. They just have to stay on the bunny hill. 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:09.320 If you're wearing a smart. 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:12.119 Watch, that's right. But sometimes it doesn't even take a 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.199 fall to trigger this automatic emergency call. So there's this 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.600 Reddit post from a person in Europe who Samsung Galaxy 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:21.000 dialed one one two when they took it off, and 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.879 this is what it said. Quote, I took my watch 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:25.640 off and threw it on my bed because I went 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:28.680 to take a shower. Well, my watch interpreted that is falling. 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:31.880 One one two called me like four times, and when 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.520 I heard the fourth call, I ran out to answer 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:35.080 the phone. 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:38.080 That's crazy, and I feel like running out all soapy 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.520