Just wondering, I hope this is not an amateur repeater placing a 911 call
with an old bagphone...
_Ray_ KBØSTN
November 18, 2007 5:30 PM CST
A 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.
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.
