Starting Nov. 1, Horry County 911 callers might hear a pre-recorded message before actually speaking with a dispatcher.
Its purpose is to let people know they’ve reached 911 and not to hang up.
The county is adding the messaging system because dispatchers are seeing a lot of callers hang up and call back when they’re not immediately answered.
Renee Hardwick, Horry County’s director of 911, said if dispatchers don’t connect with the person after they hang up, dispatchers are supposed to call them, which takes up time and resources.
“It will help us to communicate with the community," Hardwick said. "After all, everybody just wants to understand what’s happening and all, so we think it will help our department in reducing the number of callbacks we have to do and let everyone know what’s going on.”
Hardwick said Charleston County is also using this system. So far, it’s reduced abandoned calls by 50% for them.