{"id":13175,"date":"2023-06-26T10:12:12","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T10:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1397692"},"modified":"2023-06-26T10:12:12","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T10:12:12","slug":"uk-police-report-epidemic-of-android-false-emergency-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=13175","title":{"rendered":"UK police report epidemic of Android false emergency calls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Police forces across the UK<\/a> have been receiving an increasing number of false calls to 999, the country\u2019s emergency services number. This isn\u2019t attributed to a jump in crime, but largely to an Android<\/a> feature, the National Police Chief\u2019s Council (NPCC) reports.<\/p>\n

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Nationally, all emergency services are currently experiencing record high 999 call volumes. There\u2019s a few reasons for this but one we think is having a significant impact is an update to Android smartphones\u2026<\/p>\n

????thanks to @NYorksPolice<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/TbmRQgTsUe<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council (NPCC) (@PoliceChiefs) June 17, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to the NPCC, Android\u2019s Emergency SOS feature prompts the device to call 999 when the power button is pressed five times or more \u2014 which, as it seems, can easily happen accidentally in one\u2019s pocket or bag.<\/p>\n

This results in \u201csilent calls\u201d to the emergency services, where operators can\u2019t hear anyone on the line. But as these calls can\u2019t be ignored, the NPCC said<\/a> that operators need to spend \u201cvaluable time\u201d to call the number back and check whether help is actually needed.<\/p>\n

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Crystals, jets, and magnets \u2014 is this how to make cooling greener?<\/p>\n

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Devon and Cornwall Police told<\/a> the BBC that silent calls require 20 minutes to be dealt with. On Sunday alone, the station received 169 silent calls between 00:00 and 19:00.<\/p>\n

The emergency feature in question was first introduced in the Android 12 update in 2021, but due to the overall fragmented way that device manufacturers roll out updates, the function is only now reaching enough users to become a national issue.<\/p>\n

Google may have developed the software, but it won\u2019t be the one fixing it. In a statement to the BBC<\/a>, the tech<\/a> giant said that it\u2019s up to the manufacturers to manage how the feature works on their phones, expecting them to \u201cshortly\u201d introduce an update to address the issue. In the meantime, it\u2019s urging users to switch Emergency SOS off.<\/p>\n

Apart from temporarily disabling the feature, the NPCC is also asking citizens to stay on the line and let call operators know that they have dialed 999 by accident and don\u2019t require any assistance.<\/p>\n

Android isn\u2019t the sole culprit when it comes to false emergency calls. Apple\u2019s Crash Detection feature has also triggered<\/a> an influx of false alarms<\/a> to 911 dispatchers across the US.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police forces across the UK have been receiving an increasing number of false calls to 999, the country\u2019s emergency services number. This isn\u2019t attributed to a jump in crime, but largely to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}