Emergency switchboard operators get all kinds of calls. People desperate for medical attention, or calling to report a fire at their home. People call because they’ve just witnessed a horrific automobile crash or walked in their homes only to find they’ve been robbed.

Unfortunately, people also call sometimes to ask about parade routes and to get telephone numbers.

In New Sharon, a woman was arrested after calling police on a 911 emergency line with a non-emergency complaint on Nov. 27. She called not once, but three times.

The complaint?

Dogs were defecating on her lawn.

OK. Dogs can be a nuisance. But canines messing on a lawn is definitely not an emergency.

Operating a communications center is serious business. Dispatchers undergo extensive training and are under pressure to get information right and get it relayed quickly to emergency responders. Their work is not only important, it also can be a matter of life or death.

The caller who was arrested was released after posting $3,000 bail, and is scheduled to appear in court next month. She’ll get a chance to explain to the judge why she was so persistent in making those calls, and the judge will determine whether she violated the law.

No matter what happens in this case, it’s important to remember that nuisance calls made to emergency dispatchers are more than a nuisance. They are a hindrance to getting emergency services dispatched to those in true need of help.

Most police departments have non-emergency numbers listed in phone books. For anything less than a true emergency, those numbers are the way to seek help.