Minnesota’s top attorney general is urge Google to fix a software update on its cell phones which resulted in users of the device inadvertently calling 911.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Thursday that the state has nearly 100 centers that handle 911 operations, most of which have been buried in accidental emergency calls this month. Ellison blamed the surge in calls on an update to Google’s Emergency SOS feature, which allows users to instantly call 911. The problem is causing additional stress on already understaffed 911 centers and Google must fix it immediately, Ellison said in a blog post. letter To Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
“The City of Minneapolis reports that it receives thousands of additional unintentional calls each month to its 911 call center,” Ellison wrote in the letter. “Anoka County reports that it has seen a spike in calls and is now making hundreds of unintentional calls every day. Greater Minnesota, where call centers are smaller, is also overwhelmed by unintended calls.”
Some 911 dispatchers began noticing an uptick in unintentional calls in the first week of June, CBS Minnesota mentioned.
It happens in Europe too
The United States is not the only region dealing with occasional calls attributed to the new program. Police departments in Scotland and England also blame the update on a record 999 (UK version of 911) calls in recent weeks, BBC mentioned.
Glenn Staub/Star Tribune via AP News
In some cases, Ellison said, 911 centers receive calls from Android phone users who didn’t know they had activated the Emergency SOS feature. He pointed to a recent case in Benton County where a cell phone called 911 repeatedly and the dispatcher answered but no one was on the line. Ellison said the dispatcher hung up and tried to call the user back, but was unsuccessful.
“It was later discovered that a motorcyclist had stowed his cordless phone equipped with Google’s Android mobile operating system in the saddle bag of his motorbike and had no idea the emergency SOS function was on and called 911 over and over,” he said in the letter.
Resend the sender’s request, please
Ellison also asks Minnesotans who notice their phone accidentally dialed 911 to redial the dispatcher and say it was a mistake. Otherwise, dispatchers will treat the call as an actual emergency and law enforcement can be sent to the phone’s location.
Emergency SOS first appeared in 2021 on Google’s Pixel mobile phone and was later added to other Android devices not made by Google. After the update, users can activate Emergency SOS by pressing the side button three times. Users have the option to turn off the feature in their phone’s settings menu.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google spokesperson Tell The BBC says cell phone makers that offer Emergency SOS must manage how the feature works on their own devices.
“To help these manufacturers prevent unintentional emergency calls on their devices, Android provides them with additional guidance and resources,” the spokesperson said. “We expect device manufacturers to release updates to their users that address this issue soon. Users who are still experiencing this issue should turn off Emergency SOS in the next couple of days.”
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