The 911 on Boredom
News From a Crime-Fighting Security Guard
When Hayward resident John Triplette felt a little lonely, he would dial 911. The unemployed 45-year-old apparently felt lonely quite a bit, making tens of thousands of calls to 911 over the past year. Since Jan. 8 of this year, Triplette called the Hayward Communications Center at least 10,000 times, jamming dispatch lines with grunts, bodily noises, beeps from his touch pad or minimal conversation in what sounded to dispatchers like a disguised voice, according to Police Lt. Christine Orrey.
“He was severely impacting our communications center,” Orrey said. “He was a lonely man who would call the dispatchers for company, sometimes hundreds of times a day.”
They also learned that the Highway Patrol prior had received 17,000 9-1-1 calls from the number since May of 2007.
Investigators also found that Solano County received 4,000 calls from the same number since Jan. 28.
Source: San Jose Mercury News
GERI’S LESSON FOR CIVILIANS: If I’m one day late on my phone bill, I get a bright red notice demanding payment under penalty of death … so why didn’t the phone company notice that someone called 911 over 10,000 times? And how many pages long was that guy’s phone bill? Also, If you are really lonely and want to make grunts and bodily noises, please save that for your late night Skinemax viewing, not for bothering our uniformed officers.
Crazy said,
March 26, 2008 @ 8:26 amAren’t 911 calls free? Maybe they just don’t show up on the bill. I dunno but its interesting. Anyway shouldn’t that be a crime – cuz what about people with real emergencies.
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BeaC said,
March 17, 2008 @ 8:28 am“so why didn’t the phone company notice that someone called 911 over 10,000 times?”
Cause they don’t care. It’s as simple as that.