Dick Cook
The Chattanooga Times Free Press
TENNESSEE — A Tennessee law that went into effect in July provides stiffer penalties for people who make prank 911 emergency phone calls, officials said.
Under the old law, prank 911 calls were punishable by a $50 fine and 30 days in jail, officials said. The new law increases the fine up to $2,500 and jail time of up to 364 days.
Sgt. Jerry Hutchins, who supervises the dispatch center at the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, said abuse of the 911 system is a chronic problem.
“Last Tuesday night we had some kid who called 150 times in one shift,” Sgt. Hutchins said. “He was burning us up.”
The sergeant said in many cases children are obtaining old, discarded wireless phones that are disconnected but still can be used to call 911. These are called “noninitialized” phones.
“Some of the calls are hang-ups, and some of them are harassing,” he said. “You would be surprised the language they use. They call and cuss for two or three seconds and hang up.”
Lynn Questell, the executive director of the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board, said the 911 center in Shelby County received 1,148 nonemergency phone calls from one caller in a 16-day period.
“These abuses of the 911 system choke the available lines into the (call center) and potentially delay the receipt of emergency calls, which may result in harm or loss of life or property,” she said in a written statement.
Area 911 directors said many of the older, noninitialized phones don’t have a global positioning system computer chip in them that would allow emergency phone centers to pinpoint a caller’s location.
Joe Wilson, director of Bradley County 911, said his center may get only six prank calls a year.
“But when it does happen, it seems to be at the worst possible time,” he said.
Mr. Wilson said his dispatchers may be getting a flood of legitimate 911 calls or directing a number of emergency workers handling a big accident when a prankster calls. He said dispatchers can’t take the chance of just hanging up.
“The last thing you want is to hang up on someone who has an actual emergency,” Mr. Wilson said.
Mike Twitty, the 911 director in Sequatchie County, said his dispatchers have “their fair<FEFF> share” of prank calls.
“When someone decides to do it, they are a nuisance,” Mr. Twitty said. “They are constant in their attempts to play games.”
Mr. Twitty said police more easily can track pranksters who make repeated calls from new phones with GPS chips.
“When these people get on a roll, they aren’t thinking individuals,” he said. “Their (behavior) usually overcomes their good sense. When it does, it allows us to pinpoint them and do something about them.”
Ms. Questell said it would be up to local district attorneys to prosecute parents for children’s behavior.
“We had a young person from Oklahoma on a bus going down I-40 who made a number of horrible calls,” she said. “Law enforcement on the (Cumberland) plateau tracked them down and stopped them.
“There will be prosecutions for that,” Ms. Questell said.
E-mail Dick Cook at dcook@timesfreepress
Copyright 2007 Chattanooga Publishing Company