[comp.dcom.telecom] 911 Abuses

djcl@contact.uucp (woody) (02/23/90)

George Gamester's column in the _Toronto_Star_ on Tuesday 20th
February discussed some of the things 911 operators have to put up
with.

There was a mention of someone who wanted his flight to be extra-safe,
so he called in a bomb report on his flight. Needless to say, he was
not too knowledgeable about ANI, so he got two years in jail (more
than what many rapists and muggers get).

It is reported that only 10% of Toronto's 911 calls are actual
emergencies.  The rest sometimes go like this:

"Ten-four. I'm calling from my mobile phone. A litterer in the car in
front of me just threw a candy wrapper out the window. I will remain
in pursuit of the perpetrator and attempt citizen's arrest."

Of course, many false alarms are due to pre-programming of the 911
number in some phones (the wrong button gets pressed).


|| David Leibold (djcl@contact.uucp)
|| "The trouble with normal is it always gets worse" - Bruce Cockburn