How many of you have old, deactivated cellphones lounging around your house? How many of you have given said cellphones to your kids to play with? If you have or are thinking about doing so, please keep in mind that a child can still dial 9-1-1 on deactivated cellphone. So you want to make sure your child knows not to make an emergency call for “fun”.
A four-year-old Illinois girl called 9-1-1 nearly 300 times last month. Some days she called as many as 20 times during one shift. The mother was unaware of what the child was doing because, of course, like most of us she figured the phone was deactivated from making any calls. However, federal regulations stipulate that deactivated cellphones can still be used to dial 9-1-1. In fact, in some cases if the caller hold down the “9” key, they can still make an emergency call.
Anyway, this toddler continued to make calls but the dispatchers could not locate here. They were able to trace the signal to an apartment complex but not to the specific apartment. Finally, dispatchers decided to see if they could get an address from her by offering her something in return. They asked her what she wanted and she told them she wanted something from McDonald’s. The dispatcher promised they would make a delivery but they needed to know where she was calling from.
The child eagerly gave the dispatcher her address in anticipation of a yummy treat. Of course, police arrived empty-handed and alerted the mother to what was going on and she promptly took the phone from her daughter.
Initially, I wondered how the child could make so many calls without the parent being aware of it. Then I thought about Tyler and how often he “talks” on the phone. In fact, he talks to most of his toys when he’s playing. So if I saw him talking on the phone I would not think he was actually talking to someone. Especially on an old deactivated phone.
Tyler has one of my old phones so after I read the article I talked with him about it. I explained that although the service was off the emergency service was still accessible and he should not use it unless it’s an emergency. For more information about making this important call see, Preparing Your Child to Make a 9-1-1 call.
Clarifying What Constitutes an Emergency
Safety: What Should You Teach?