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Oh great, because in Germany it's exactly the other way around. 110 is police, 112 is firefighters and ambulance.

Sure. But if you dial 110 by mistake and meant to dial 112, they will either help you regardless (many emergency dispatchers are colocated) or simply transfer you to where you meant to call.

>>That they default more to the police is a completely different issue.

That is literally what this article is about though, no?

From your description it sounds like 112 and 911 function more or less the same, you call and depending on the problem a dispatcher sends police, fire, or medical.

The issue described with 911 is that the dispatcher will default to the police for something like a mental health crisis which might escalate things to violence. The solution is to change how these calls are handled by the dispatchers and first responders. There already is a centralized number.