It's a number you're supposed to call in an emergency. But you would be surprised to learn how many people dial 911 and don't really need it.

WKYT decided to check into the problem after learning about a Laurel County woman who called dispatchers for a non-emergency. Dispatchers say she told them she was a state trooper to get the answers she wanted.

WKYT took the Laurel County call to the 911 call center in Lexington and found out they get similar, non-emergency requests each night.

The 911 director in Lexington estimates one out of every ten calls his department gets, has nothing to do with an emergency.

"Just to find out what the weather is or to find out about an inmate in a jail or to find out when garbage collection is, that's not really proper use for 911," explains 911 Director David Lucas. "We have prosecuted people for calling and disrupting our lines, being belligerent with our call takers or doing false claims."

Most 911 call centers do have an administrative line to answer non-emergency calls. It's the same line Laurel County dispatchers say Katherine Young used. She was arrested for impersonating an officer.

Lucas says they do make arrests for menacing calls.