911 Abuse Calls

The problem of 911 abuse isn’t limited to America’s biggest cities, as dispatchers in Barron County (Wisc.) have discovered. They say that children are using unregistered cellular phones to make prank 911 calls. Sheriff’s offiials believe that the phones are those that parents no longer needed, and handed off to their children to play with. Communications supervisor Gay Radosevich dispatchers are fielding calls from six individual phones a day, and sometimes 15 calls from one phone. A sheriff’s department press release reminds citizens that even un-subscribed phones can still dial 911, and to properly dispose of the phones. Most cellular carriers have recycling programs, they noted.