Emergency call takers are hoping that a new automated message on the Colorado Springs 911 system will keep callers on the line when they do not receive an immediate response.

The message, implemented Thursday, will play after 10 seconds of ringing and will let people know that they’ve dialed the right number. It will also discourage them from hanging up.

Colorado Springs police spokeswoman Lt. Catherine Buckley said the message was implemented because people often call 911, listen to the phone ring, then disconnect. The hang ups add to the workload of the call takers, who have to check on all abandoned phone calls.

“Every call that is placed to 911 that is disconnected requires an Emergency Response Technician to go back and make positive contact,” Buckley said in an email.

Now, callers who don’t receive an answer within 10 seconds get the following message: “You’ve reached Colorado Springs 911. Please don’t hang up. We are experiencing heavy call volume. Your call will be answered by the next available emergency operator.”

If another 10 seconds passes with no answer, the message will state: “Again, please stay on the line. Disconnecting to call back could add to your wait time.”

Renee Henshaw, manager with the Colorado Springs Public Safety Communications Center, said it was a solution they developed after receiving feedback from people who said they weren’t sure they dialed the right number.

“We’re just hoping it gives them some reassurance that they’ve reached the right place,” she said.

Callers will encounter the message during peak call times.

“Our call volume begins to pick up about 8 O’clock in the morning during the daily rush hour. It starts to taper of around 7 p.m.,” she said.

Calls spike on Friday and Saturday, especially when the bars close. Sometimes they decrease in the winter, she said. High visibility events like car accidents also overload the center with phone calls, Henshaw said.

Last year, the center received 661,945 calls, including 277,923 911 emergency calls. Keeping up with the increase in calls was an issue for staff, and played a role in increasing answer times.

This year the center was authorized to add six additional call takers to its team. Generally, the minimum staffing at the call center is seven call takers, she said.

The communications center, one of seven centers in the El Paso and Teller county region, is the only one to use this kind of message, she said.