The holidays are a hectic time of year for many Albertans, including at the RCMP call centre in Edmonton.

The centre, which covers emergency calls for all 58 RCMP detachments in northern Alberta, handles hundreds of calls a day. But that number spikes during the holiday season.

“It's certainly busier. Most people, we hope that they have a good Christmas season,” said Inspector Ian Currie.

“But, unfortunately, we don't deal with the happy people.”

Currie says less than half of those calls are actual emergencies - about 60 per cent of the calls are non-emergencies or pocket dials.

He says those take time away from answering true emergencies. He adds that if someone does accidently dial 911, the best thing they can do is stay on the line and tell the dispatcher what happened.

Otherwise, emergency workers needs to spend more time tracking down the caller.

“Because we don’t know what the situation is. So we’re asking people to be careful,” Currie said.