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Smart watch setting leads to jump in accidental 911 calls from Schweitzer, sheriff's office says

On Saturday, Jan. 7, BCSO said 30% of the 911 calls received that day were unintentional calls from people at Schweitzer.

SANDPOINT, Idaho — The Bonner County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) has seen a stark increase in unintentional 911 calls recently, but Sheriff Daryl Wheeler said these calls can be prevented by changing the settings on a smartwatch.

According to a Facebook post from BSCO, the sheriff's office has seen a dramatic increase in unintentional 911 calls from people skiing and snowboarding at Schweitzer Mountain. The calls were made due to a "fall detection" feature available on most smartwatches.

The "fall detection" feature is designed to call 911 in the event of a fall. For example, Apple Watches tap you on the wrist, sound an alarm and display an alert if it senses you have fallen. 

If an Apple Watch detects that you're moving, it waits for you to respond to the alert and won't automatically call emergency services. If the watch detects you have been immobile for about a minute, it will begin a 30-second countdown while tapping you on the wrist and sounding an alert. When the countdown ends, 911 is automatically called.

According to BCSO, some people don't know about this feature on smartwatches.

On Saturday, Jan. 7, BCSO said 30% of the 911 calls received that day were unintentional calls from people at Schweitzer. Bonner County 911 and BCSO deputies "treat each 911 call as an emergency until we can verify otherwise" and said these unintentional calls "take emergency resources away from true emergencies."

To learn more about fall detection features, BCSO recommends checking the user guide or settings on your smartwatch to ensure you understand how to use it and when it should be utilized.

Skiers and Snowboarders…did you know your Smart watch may be calling 911? Some Smart watches are programmed with a...

Posted by Bonner County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, January 12, 2023

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