911 Facts & Tips

Scituate uses the Enhanced 911 emergency telephone system. To use this system as intended, you need to keep a few simple things in mind:

911 IS FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY
Crimes in progress or having just occurred, reports of fire or suspected fires, or calls to request emergency medical help should dial 9-1-1.

To report a fire, stop a crime, or save a life Dial 9-1-1.

Another reason to use 9-1-1 for emergencies is that even if the call gets disconnected or the caller cannot speak, the 9-1-1 calltaker has immediate access to the caller's address.

Hearing or speech impaired persons should be aware that the Enhanced 911 System is fully TTY capable and calltakers are trained in it's TTY use.

Speed dialers should not be programmed to call 911. The only way to check to see that it is programmed correctly is to try it. 911 protocol requires that emergency personnel physically check out the location that the call came from. This could tie up emergency units that might be required at a true emergency. Speed dialers can also be easily misdialed by pressing only one button (this happens frequently when children play with the phone).

Differently-abled persons can request a voluntary, confidential indicator be placed on their phone to alert emergency personnel to special situations.

Scituate residents can contact Officer Wood for more information about this, other persons should contact their local public safety agency.