National Public Safety Telecommunications Week is a time for reminders to respect the rules of 911 and pat the backs of dispatchers who staff police communication centres.

At the Victoria police communication centre alone, 43,791 such emergency calls came in last year – of those, more than 5,200 were abandoned. Every day, about 400 non-emergency calls come in to the centre.

Non-emergencies should be reported to 250-995-7654 in Victoria and Esquimalt.