A 4 year old girl called 911, 300 times, should she have gotten in any trouble? If not her, her parents?
Eric
2007/07/06 22:26:55
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CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. - Authorities tracked down a 4-year-old girl who called 911 nearly 300 times last month by offering to deliver McDonald's to her suburban Chicago apartment.
Unbeknownst to her mother, the girl used a deactivated cell phone to call dispatchers 287 times in June — sometimes as often as 20 times a shift.
Dispatchers heard the child's voice but could only track the phone's signal to the apartment complex.
So authorities used a ruse to pinpoint her.
"We asked (the caller) what she wanted. She said she wanted McDonald's," said Steve Cordes, executive director of QuadCom's emergency center, which covers Carpentersville.
"We talked with her and we convinced her if she told us where she lives, we would bring her McDonald's," he said. "She finally gave us her address. So we sent the police over — with no McDonald's."
After police arrived, the girl's mother took away the phone, Cordes said.
Under federal law, deactivated cell phones still must be able to access 911. Many deactivated phones will contact an emergency call center if the user holds down the nine key.
Unbeknownst to her mother, the girl used a deactivated cell phone to call dispatchers 287 times in June — sometimes as often as 20 times a shift.
Dispatchers heard the child's voice but could only track the phone's signal to the apartment complex.
So authorities used a ruse to pinpoint her.
"We asked (the caller) what she wanted. She said she wanted McDonald's," said Steve Cordes, executive director of QuadCom's emergency center, which covers Carpentersville.
"We talked with her and we convinced her if she told us where she lives, we would bring her McDonald's," he said. "She finally gave us her address. So we sent the police over — with no McDonald's."
After police arrived, the girl's mother took away the phone, Cordes said.
Under federal law, deactivated cell phones still must be able to access 911. Many deactivated phones will contact an emergency call center if the user holds down the nine key.
Top Opinion
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Teedee 2007/07/06 21:44:35No
+7That many times does make me think..Hmmm..what's going on with the parents here. We did catch our son steal a couple pieces of small candy from a store one time and told the store manager..call the cops.. cops came and we had a talk with them and ask them to "talk" to him about what he did. They sat him in the back of the squad car and "talk" to him about what he done. He learned a good lesson that day.
have gotten in trouble???? She should have been told the serious
side of 911. And of course that playing with real phones is not cool.
The one who really could use the whipping is her parents come
on 300 times?If you look at it like this she was tying up a line
that maybe a emergency couldn't reach? The parents are lucky
they did not get charged.
Usually you're put on "Hold"!!
I think with the modern technology we have, there's got to be better ways of tracking even deactivated cellphones (since they definitely come with some type of serial numbers).
Letting a 4-year old dial 911 and cry-wolf this many times, not only shows her parents aren't doing their jobs right, it also shows how easily 911 can be busy and jammed for real emergency callers...
I think the government should definitely make some proactive actions to prevent such issues from happening so they can get to the real emergencies...
I'm glad it was 911 she gave her address to and not someone looking to hurt them or the child.
year old from the police. Her parents probably gave her an old cell
phone to play with and didn't think anything of it. She probably
learned about 911 from day care or from kid shows on TV. And she should
know it, but she should also know that it is for an emergency only. She
sounds like a spoiled child, that wasn't getting what she wanted for
dinner, and so when she found out that the phone worked(which I am
betting the parents didn't know) she thought it was a fun toy to play
with.
I just find it hard to believe that people are so willing to assume that she made a conscious effort to dial three digits, in sequence that many times when the story said that it was possible to access the Emergency Center by holding in the “9” key. Why do we assume that she “wasn't getting what she wanted for dinner” and did this to procure carry-out, or anything else other than randomly holding down keys?
that my daughter could dial 911 because she knows all of her numbers
and she knows what it is for. She also knows that she isn't supposed to
dial it unless mommy or daddy are unable to speak to her. If a rat can
learn to push down on a lever to get food and not a shock, then a 4
year old can learn to push buttons to get a voice.
I’m confident that your daughter is a bright and disciplined little girl.
Further, I am substantially aware of the learning ability of Rodents, Dogs, Gorillas, etc. but that wasn’t my point! We are very quick to assume this little girl’s guilt (even implying that she is unhappy with the dinner menu) rather than her innocence, even though the news story provides a reasonable avenue to embrace some doubt!
that by pushing numbers she got a voice, and was then play acting with
the person on the other side, just as I have watched my daughter do
with her fake phone. I honestly dont think that she realized that what
she was doing was "wrong", because her parents probably didn't teach
her that it was wrong.
It wasn’t done maliciously.
Tell you one thing, her battery lasts longer than the one in my phone!
It's just another example of unintended consequenses of a law.
I knew about the 911 thing. If you give a kid an old phone, take the battery off it!