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Some Jersey City 911 Calls Misdirected To NYC

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - It only costs a few seconds, says Jersey City OEM director Greg Kierce, but in an emergency seconds can count.

WCBS 880's Alex Silverman On The Story

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"We've seen lately that people in the downtown area, which is obviously only separated by the Hudson River there, depending on what the carrier is and their location to the cell towers, it could be picked up by New York City 911 system," he said Tuesday.

That's what happened to two people from Jersey City who told WCBS 880 they called 911 to report a fire.

"One of those 911 calls are the classic example of 'Be careful what you wish for, because it might happen.'," said Paul Linnee, a 911 systems consultant. "The number one piece of advice I give to cell phone users is assume the dispatcher can know nothing about where you're calling from."

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