Minnesota Anglers Accidentally Calling 911
Who knew this was going to be an issue? A sheriff in Northern Minnesota is asking anglers to please watch where they put their phone while ice fishing.
When I first saw that there was a warning from the sheriff for anglers regarding their smart phones, I immediately thought that it was to be aware of phone falling into the water. Not the case... the warning is to be careful of where your phone is placed while ice fishing because of an uptick in butt-dialed 911 calls.
Apparently many people are placing them in areas where it's easy for the SOS number to be called accidentally which is the 911 emergency call. You don't need to open your phone with a thumbprint or a code to call 911. Normally that's a good thing, but in this case, it's been kind of a pain for first responders.
There was this post on the Beltrami County Sheriff's Facebook page:
It looks like it happens when you are bending over the ice fishing hole. Usually people have their phones in their pockets, and because of the angle, the 911 distress call is made unintentionally. A lot of people have iPhones, and that one seems to be the type of phone that this is happening to the most. On an iPhone, if you press the button rapidly 5 times it automatically calls 911. I don't have an iPhone, and I had no idea, but I can totally see how this would happen.
So, if you plan to go ice fishing, just be aware of where your phone is. Maybe put it into a different pocket so you aren't make a call that you don't intend to make simply by bending over.