People misusing 911 could go to jail

The Calexico Dispatch Department said misuse of 911 calls are increasing in the area putting at risk the lives of people with real emergencies.

Dispatcher Leo Miramon said, “If all 911 lines are tied up with calls that are not emergencies, it can cost somebody’s life.”

He said the number of non-emergency calls per week is staggering, amounting to hundreds. And, he added, each call demands police time.

“Children from this side who also play with the phone quite often. When we get an address associated with the 911, we send an officer out there to check it out to see if it’s okay, if they’re not in any danger or in need of assistance from police department,” Miramon said.

Prank callers can be located through GPS.

“Our system is generated to get an address from certain phone numbers here in the valley. GPS coordinates to certain areas if it’s a cellphone,” Miramon said.

He said some calls are coming from across the border by mistake.

“Reason being because of Mexicali got switched over recently to the 911 system. Some of the calls are children either playing with cell phones or playing with the 911 system in Mexico and it bleeds over to the United States and we’re the first agency that picks them up,” Miramon said.

He urges parents to teach their kids to use 911 responsibly.

“If it’s a life or death situation, if it’s a robbery, if your property is being damaged or affected by any suspect,” Miramon said.

911 calls are for actual emergencies only. Anyone caught misusing the 911 emergency number could be charged with a misdemeanor and face up to a year in county jail.