wrongfully dialing 911

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There is a way to file for and get audio copies of the 911 calls made in your instance (don't know which forms to file). I would do this and make sure you get every audio clip of every call that was made regarding your legal activity. You may need them later on.

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653x. (a) Any person who telephones the 911 emergency line with the
intent to annoy or harass another person is guilty of a misdemeanor
punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000),
by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than six months, or by
both the fine and imprisonment. Nothing in this section shall apply
to telephone calls made in good faith.
(b) An intent to annoy or harass is established by proof of
repeated calls over a period of time, however short, that are
unreasonable under the circumstances.
(c) Upon conviction of a violation of this section, a person also
shall be liable for all reasonable costs incurred by any unnecessary
emergency response.

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Intent is hard to prove and good luck finding a DA who will push this in light of the more serious crimes which they don't have time enough to properly prosecute.

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dirtykoala wrote:

coolusername2007 wrote:

There is a way to file for and get audio copies of the 911 calls made in your instance (don't know which forms to file). I would do this and make sure you get every audio clip of every call that was made regarding your legal activity. You may need them later on.

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ill look into this.

does anyone know if its possible to get recordings of the radio traffic from the incident?

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Yes, all 911 calls in California are answered by the CHP and all speaking, caller ID info, which phone line was answered, if it was transferred to another operator as well as all radio traffic (on a channel-color by channel-color basis) is recorded on a "voice logging recorder". Currently, CHP uses a brand called "Voice Print" from a company in Camarillo, CA. They have them at all 25 comm centers, from the little one in Truckee to the two huge centers in Vallejo (Golden Gate Division) and the new Los Angeles Regional Traffic Management Center (LARTMC) that they share with CalTrans.

I do not know the form's name/designator number, but a call to the non-emergency number of the PSAP that handled the call should be all you need to request a tape be made of the call and radio traffic. They'll tell you how to request it in writing.

However, if the call was then transferred to a local agency (police, sheriff, etc.) and if CHP did not stay on the line while the locals took the call, you'll need to contact that agency as well to request a tape of their phone and radio traffic.

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The article I read was kinda confusing. It quoted the "911 operator" but mentioned the reporting party calling the "non-emergency" number.

We have a similar setup here in Palo Alto.

BTW, CHP only answers *cellular* 911 calls. And I believe that is even starting to go away. Everytime I have dialed 911 from a cell phone, I have just gotten a busy signal. Perhaps that has changed now with the local wireless 911 call routing

http://cad.chp.ca.gov/htm/body_faq.htm

Q: I called 911 from my cellular phone, why did the CHP answer?
A: Cellular 911 phone calls are answered by CHP communications/dispatch centers in the state of California.

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The above is from 1999. There are many press releases announcing local routing of cellular 911 calls since the mid 2000's. Local jurisdictions can request 911 calls be routed to their local Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP).

http://www.cio.ca.gov/PSCD/911/pdf/Chapter4.pdf

BACKGROUND

When wireless cellular telephones were initially introduced in California, their predominant use was in automobiles. As a result, all 9-1-1 cellular calls were routed to the nearest California Highway Patrol (CHP) Communications Center PSAP. Use of wireless cellular telephones has now overcome the traditional landline telephone and this rapid escalation has seriously inundated CHP PSAPs statewide with wireless 9-1-1 calls. Many of these calls must then be transferred to the appropriate PSAP nearest that wireless 9-1-1 caller location.

Passage of an Assembly Bill (AB 1263) in 2001 provides conditions that allow PSAPs outside of the CHP to answer wireless 9-1-1 calls directly from wireless service provider cell sectors that do not cover a CHP jurisdiction. These conditions include jurisdictional considerations and technological feasibility with agreement among the CHP, the PSAP, the 9-1-1 Office; and, consultation with wireless carriers, providers of 9-1-1 selective routing services, and 9-1-1 Database providers. These entities are referred to as wireless stakeholders in this chapter.

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Departmental policies vary. In my incident with Turlock PD, they said all info could be requested on one form (though the form had no space to request this, so it was written in the margin).

One trick is that you can request "access" to all the info, which has to be available free of charge. Once you decide which info you want, they can charge you reasonable costs of copying.

When I submitted my request to TPD, they just gave me copies of everything - free of charge. (They didn't even have a real FOIA form, so I doubt they had facilities for public access to documents.)

Turlock PD didn't give up the radio traffic at first. They said it was an oversightbut then said they had to check with the city attorney to see if they were required to release radio comms. They had a CD of the audio ready 2 days later. (They did edit out parts of the audio that identified the caller, but otherwise it was intact.)

I've heard of other departments flat-out refusing to allow access or copies to the public. If this happens, I'd check with the FBI; that might be within their jurisdiction. Otherwise, you might have to get an attorney and drag them into court to get the info you want. They're relying that their victim won't have the time/assets available to drag the city into court.

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dirtykoala, Let me know if you want help with this. I'd be more than willing to go down to the station with you.

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tall_tree said, "BTW, CHP only answers *cellular* 911 calls."

DOH! I meant to say that! (about cellular) Good catch!

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nukechaser wrote:

tall_tree said, "BTW, CHP only answers *cellular* 911 calls."

DOH! I meant to say that! (about cellular) Good catch!

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Cell phones with GPS now get routed (generally correctly) to the primary jurisdiction you are calling from (much to the relief of CHP dispatchers).

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cato wrote:

nukechaser wrote:

tall_tree said, "BTW, CHP only answers *cellular* 911 calls."

DOH! I meant to say that! (about cellular) Good catch!

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Cell phones with GPS now get routed (generally correctly) to the primary jurisdiction you are calling from (much to the relief of CHP dispatchers).

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One time I called about some asshole slamming on his breaks into me and the dispatch lady told me what street I was on, I was like :uhoh: