For those of you who have ever had to be put on hold or wait a while to connect to a 911 dispatcher, this 45 year old guy might have had a lot to do with it (I say this sarcastically). I was flabbergasted reading it last night and I'm still amazed at it. He made 27 thousand prank calls to 911 on his cell phone since last May!

I love the last quote in the article:

His explanation for all those calls?

Triplette told police, "Because it's free."

I try not to call 911, my dad was a fireman & first aid captain, for 41-years, he drummed into my head the local phone numbers to the police dispatchers in the area. I have them programmed into my cell phone. You can cut off 5-min response time by going to them instead of calling 911. I live in a suburb of Toledo, last summer I was fishing on the shore east of Toledo, (Maumee Bay State Park) there was a 7 or 8 year old girl that fell and got what looked like a broken ankle. They called 911, and got the 911 operator for Detroit Mi (60-milles north of Toledo, across the lake.) it was ½ hr before the life squad came. It was a long time for a scared, in pain kid to wait. What if it had been a heart attack, I think about this having had one a few months ago.

The 911 system and the concept of one number that works everyplace is a great idea as everyone (even kids) know how to get help and when traveling its great. But if you take the time to learn the local numbers you can get better response with the direct number. I’m not trying to tare down the 911 system as I’m sure it’s saved numerous lives and will continue to do so. Just pointing out how to possibly get a quicker response to your emergency.

Man we get it non stop. There are few codes in NYC that you never want to hear on the radio: one is 10-13 and the other is 10-85. First one is an unconfirmed call: member of service in trouble such us off duty cop in accident or reqest for help. Later, 10-85 is when stuff really hits the fan: violent out of control perp, confirmed accident, chase with weapons drawn and assault on member of service while on duty. Any of those codes come in on the radio and you just go. No questions, no ifs and buts just go. I personally called it only once when some coke raging lunatic decided to explode on me and my partner was nowhere to be found and 100 lbs medical student was praying to be back in Pakistan. But anyone can sort of initiate it by placing a right sounding phone call such us: "i'm an off duty officer and I have been shot at this address". Dispatcher puts the code out and we roll to find nothing. It's so freaking easy to do with cellphoens now since even if they are not working with regular phone service they still can be used to place 911 phonecall. We constantly respond to 10-13s in projects or shady areas just to find nothing. After responding to a "a shot paramedic crew under the bridge" one of the Lous made a nice observation and said: this would be a perfect way to measure quality, time and strength of the response to an incident. We laughed at the paranoid one but later on after some thought got put into it than it made sense. You want to set something off in NYC but measuring our response time and who shows up you can pretty much figure out how much time do you have to do what you got to do. But belive me I would love to get my hands on that someone who is doing them prank calls and than promptly transport him to a trauma center.

Sounds like something out of Die Hard 3

But this guy apologized...

So kill him anyway. He's wasting valuable oxygen.

And I'll bet he won't stop. Anyone making that number of calls is having way too much fun. Where's Dirty Harry when you really need him?

Sue

Yeah. This isn't just some kid who is discovering the new thrill of making prank calls to 911 and doesn't realize the consequences. I guess HAM's or CBer's and other radio folks have had to deal with jerks like this forever, too. What are they thinking?

The police should probably check out this guy's buddie's phones too. This sounds like he was going for some kind of record. I bet this guy's friends are just as moronic. Some idiots run in packs.

Also, in this case, the punishment does not fit the crime. I think a year or two in jail might help this mutt sort out his priorities.

Thanks for the post Arney. Just when you thought you had heard it all...

and what's the BEST thing to hear on the scanner or radio after a 10-13

"All units, slow it down, slow it down"

I agree with BobS about calling emergency agencies direct rather than wasting time with 911. My experiences with 911 have not been very positive. The conversation usually goes like this:

"911 What's your emergency?"
"Please connect me with the Jonesfield Police, I need to report an accident."
"You need to report an accident?"
"Yes, please connect me with the Jonesfield Police."
"Where is the accident?"
"At the intersection of X and Y street in Jonesfield."
"It's at the intersection of X and Y street?
"Yes, in Jonesfield."
"Are there any injuries?"
"No"
"Are your sure there are no injuries?"
"There are no injuries."
"Is the road blocked?"
"No the road is not blocked."
"There are no cars blocking the intersection?"
"NO!!"
"Please hold while I connect you with the Jonesfield Police."

Of course, I then repeat everything I've already told the 911 operator to the Jonesfield PD dispatcher.

I'm sure the 911 operators are following a protocol, but it is infuriating to go through their procedures when all I need to do is talk to the police dispatcher. I finally gave up and just entered all the local emergency numbers in my cell phone.

911 abuse is the modern version of pulling those old red fire
alarm boxs you would see on the streets..