→Subscribe for new videos every day! http://bit.ly/todayifoundou→’t have one universal phone number for Americans to call if they needed help from the police or fire department. Callers simply had to know the phone number for each department in the area they were currently in. In the case of large cities, there were often multiple police and fire departments covering different areas. Los Angeles, for example, had fifty different police departments and just as many phone numbers. Telephone operators would usually be left to direct emergency calls if the caller wasn’t sure which department or phone number they needed. Oftentimes there would be further delays upon getting the police or fire department on the line if the clerks who answered the phone were busy with another caller. Needless to say, this system wasn’t optimized to get emergency help where it needed to go very quickly. Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/07/911-become-emergency-call-number-united-states/ Sources: http://www.ecdops.org/history_of_911.htm http://www.911dispatch.com/911/history/ http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/07/911-become-emergency-call-number-united-states/www.911dispatch.com/911/history/memo_nimetz_flannery.html http://www.911dispatch.com/911/history/fcc_res_comments.html http://www.911dispatch.com/911/history/task_force_rpt.html http://www.911dispatch.com/911/history/alt_history.html http://www.911dispatch.com/911/history/lbj_message_911.html https://www.nena.org/?page=911overviewfacts http://www.worcesterma.gov/emergency-communications/history-of-911 http://www.911dispatch.com/911/history/task_force_rpt.html http://www.fcc.gov/text-to-911 http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/9-1-1-and-e9-1-1-services http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/07/911-become-emergency-call-number-united-states/www.911.gov/911-issues/funding.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N11_code http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push-button_telephone Imag