EL PASO, Texas -- KFOX received an anonymous letter outlining some issues at the 911 center that could possible leave the public's safety at risk.

"I didn't know who they were and I didn't know what to do," said Raquel Macias.

Macias said when she called 911, she stayed on hold for some time.

An anonymous letter sent to KFOX stated that's one issue the 911 call center has. The main problem, according to the letter, is the abundance of non-emergency calls, which tie up 911 operators from helping people with real emergencies. We went to the Fire Department Headquarters for answers.

"Part of the 911 system would be the ability to transfer those calls from the 911 call takers to the 311 call takers," said Division Chief Chris Celaya.

Celaya said they're trying to address that issue by implementing a non-emergency number like 311.

"Once we get ready to fully implement we're going to do some PR campaign so we can notify the public. Here are some things that can go through our 911 system, here are some things that can go through the 311 system," said Celaya.

But the 911 call center is plagued by other concerns like more than 2,000 calls a month come in from Juarez cell phones that hit El Paso cell phone towers, according to the letter.

"We certainly don't have control over how those things are routed, we do take measures, we work with the 911 district, we work with cell phone providers to try and reroute those if we find that the calls are routed incorrectly," said Celaya.

According to the letter, 911 call takers also spend a lot of time taking calls for animal control issues. It said there's a problem with inactive phones that parents give to their children to play with. These phones many times can still connect with 911.