The meaning of "call out" in this context

Question

Reading this article, I have had an agony like asking before the definition of call out..

I am not perfectly sure what call out means for such as this line.

The Atlanta Police Department said Wednesday that it was experiencing "a higher than usual number of call outs."

According to the Collins, I speculate the verb is used by the definition of the British English's

3. (transitive) to order ( workers) to strike

So my questions are,

1 Am I correct in my speculation?

2 Even though Collins says it the British way of saying, doesn't it matter?

Thank you for your time

Answer 1

1 Am I correct in my speculation?

No - here you have the wrong meaning.

Call out can also be defined as:

to summon

So here, call out means when the emergency services/any other service attends a call/request that they received.

2 Even though Collins says it the British way of saying, doesn't it matter?

I live in Britain and it is common here to use that, not sure about other countries.

Answer 2

call-out /ˈkôlˌout/ noun 1. an instance of being summoned, especially in order to deal with an emergency or to do repairs.

Definition of call out (Entry 2 of 2) transitive verb

1: to summon into action call out troops 2: to challenge to a duel 3: to order on strike call out the workers