Cell Phone Calls 911… again and again
It might be a prank or it might be a phone on the fritz, but some cellphone, somewhere in Black Hawk County, Utah has dialed 911 operators some 400 times over the last week.
Investigators saw each and every time the calls were made, there was no one on the other end. Moreover, the number itself no longer seems to be associated with a cell phone provider. Federal law still allows these phones to make 911 calls however.
My guess is that someone gave their old cell phone to a kid, they turned it on a played with it. Then they forgot to turn it off and it’s sitting at the bottom of a toy chest on automatic redial. The good news is that it’s bound to run out of batteries eventually.
rogue cell phone is not accepting calls, but it sure likes to dial 911 operators in eastern Iowa.
Operators at the Black Hawk County Consolidated Communications Center said that they received about 400 calls from the same cell phone last week and that no one seems to be on the other line.
"That’s it right now," said Dispatcher Chuck Hosier, as a phone rang in the background. "It will ring in, and it’s an open line. Sometimes it rings in and drops off."
Officials can’t locate the phone but have figured out that it is an old line not currently associated with a cell phone provider. Such phones, once charged up, can still place 911 calls under Federal Communications Commission rules set in 1994.
The cell phone can’t receive calls, and emergency workers haven’t been able to track the owner through service records, either.
"With this, we are pretty helpless," said Judy Flores, the center’s administrative supervisor.
Officials are suspicious that it could be a prank — but they say it’s not funny and potentially dangerous.
Until the source of the calls is found or they stop, dispatchers still have to answer every call just in case someone is on the line with an emergency.
source Tags: dumb news, cell phone, 911, auto redial, bad pranks
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POSTED IN: Dumb Merchandise, Just Weird
1 opinion for Cell Phone Calls 911… again and again
Nick
Nov 20, 2007 at 3:27 am
This could be done through spoof calling. They can call any number they choose and have any number they want appear on the callback list. More and more websites are starting to offer this spoof calling feature.
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