NACS and the UCI Police Department (UCIPD) want to alert the campus community with critical 911 information. Too many people are dialing 911 by accident. These misdialed calls are a serious problem because they tie up UCIPD personnel who should be answering real 911 emergency calls.

Here are three steps you should take to avoid calling 911 in error.

• When making an off-campus long-distance call do NOT dial 1+area code For example, to call Santa Ana, simply dial 9-714-xxx-xxxx.
• Check your fax machines and modems to be certain that they are not programmed to dial a “1” before the area code.
• When placing an “international” call be very careful to dial 9-011

There are four useful facts to remember when you do need to call 911 in the event of an emergency.

• You can dial 911 when using a campus telephone extension or any payphone located on campus.
• All UCI campus elevators are equipped with emergency call boxes. Each box has a push button that connects directly to the UCIPD 911 via speakerphone.
• If you are outside of a building, look for an emergency phone. These yellow emergency phones with blue lights on top are located on the campus ring mall and in many campus parking lots. Each box has a push button that connects directly to the UCIPD 911 via speakerphone.
• If you dial 911 from a cellular telephone you will NOT be connected to the UCIPD or the Irvine Police. As mandated by State law, all calls to 911 from cellular phones are routed to the California Highway Patrol (CHP). If you call 911 from a cellular phone make sure you give your exact location using the full name and “University of California Irvine”. Recently, someone on campus dialed 911 from a cellular phone during a medical emergency. The caller identified the location as “UCI”. The CHP officer did not recognize “UCI” which resulted in a delay in the emergency personnel response.

Finally, if you wish to reach UCI emergency assistance from a cellular phone, you must dial 949-824-5222 to reach the UCIPD emergency dispatch line.