Apple Repair Facility Makes Thousands of Accidental 911 Calls in Elk Grove, California

Elk Grove (California) Police Department and Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office are investigating reports of hundreds of accidental 911 calls being made from an Apple repair center in California.

The Sacramento Bee reported that about 20 accidental 911 calls per day have been made over the past five months by Apple products — that could be up to 3,000 accidental calls to 911. The accidental calls have been received by Elk Grove (California) police and Sacramento County sheriff’s dispatch centers.

Elk Grove Police Department spokesperson Jason Jimenez said the calls were traced to a cell tower close to the Apple campus, and the calls don’t show any service provider information as normal cellphone calls display — apparently a sign of non-subscriber initialized 911 calls.

“When the line is open, there’s no sound of a struggle or an emergency” and dispatchers also said that when they answer, they hear “people talking about Apple,” according to the spokesperson for Elk Grove Police Department.

“911 is a lifeline for everyone in our community, so having these lines open and available is paramount and so getting this problem resolved. Public safety is not in danger and we are working with Apple to resolve the issue.”

— Elk Grove Police

The new iPhone X has an SOS function that automatically dials 911 when the user holds down the side button and one of the volume buttons, according to the Apple website. Apple said they are working on fixing the issue.

Apple should know this is an issue because it has received complaints for many years that volume buttons or the mute rocker switch is frequently accidently changed while a phone is placed in pocket, fanny packs, or purses.

“We take this seriously and we are working closely with local law enforcement to investigate the cause and ensure this doesn’t continue,” a spokesperson said.

“The times when it’s greatly impacting us is when we have other emergencies happening and we may have a dispatcher on another 911 call that may have to put that call on hold,” dispatcher Jamie Hudson said.

Jimenez urged the public that “public safety is not jeopardized” at this time, but that is debatable.

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