prank calling 911...

[Boo Radley]

what do they do when someone does that? is there a fine? do they add the phone number to a blacklist? what if it was a mistake?

I'm just curious to find out since I'm sure they get many prank/useless calls

[iced_faerie]

Hmm..that is very interesting...I never did think about that..I wonder what they do...I should think they'd fine the person since they have to keep their lines free for real emergencies

[Boo Radley]

what if a 2 year old toddler grabs the phone and randomly dials 911.. it's very likely.... and if this happens and no one answers them will they send a cop to investigate or just hang up?

[Julie Andrews]

I know if a toddler calls, they still send an officer over to investigate the call. It happened with my niece once. They, of course, warned my sister to make sure it never happens again.

[iced_faerie]

I know if a toddler calls, they still send an officer over to investigate the call. It happened with my niece once. They, of course, warned my sister to make sure it never happens again.

Yeah it happened at our house too. I think my sister called and they called back asking if there was an emergency..my mom said no. They told her not to call unless there was a real emergency or else she'd get fined

[Pinklicious]

Well my friend prank called the police once at a pay phone and SOMEHOW they found her and they showed up at her house and made her promise never to do it again.

[roseofblack25]

didnt know what would happen in some of the situations

[kdoucette]

My brother once called when he was quite young, and a cop did show up. I am sure that if someone repeatedly did it there would be a fine.

[cookoo]

Dont' know if this is counted as a prank, but what happened was surely funny:
A friend of my mom didn't want to hire a babysitter, so he locked his 7-yr-old daughter (it was in the summer, no school) in the house with her 2-yr-old baby brother whenever he and his wife went to work in the morning, coming back only at noon to cook for the kids and going to work again until 5PM.
The little girl got bored watching TV and playing with her brother, so she started calling her friends on the phone. Some of them were not home, some were. Eventually, she got tired talking to her buddies, so she started using the yellow pages and calling anything she found interesting. The people at various restaurants/hotels who got her calls were annoyed and told her not to call again. But all she wanted to do was to talk to someone and make friends.
At some point, she dialed 911, the operator was nice to her, asking her this and that. But then this girl talked nothing that seemed like an emergency, the operator thought it was a prank and asked the girl to have one of her parents come to the phone. The girl said none of her parents were home. Babysitter? No. Guardian? No. Adult? No. NOW that's something. Within 5 minutes, police cruisers got to her front door. Because the kids were locked in, the policemen broke the door down. By the time they got in, they couldn't find any adult in the house, just like they had suspected. In the end, the girl's parents were charged because they violated the law.

[Chantelle]

In the end, the girl's parents were charged because they violated the law.

whats the minimum age that kids are allowed to be left alone?

[roseofblack25]

i think it is 12 or 13 not sure though

[iced_faerie]

I just looked it up and it said that kids under 12 aren't allowed to be left home by themselves...so I guess it's around 12 or 13. I think parents should leave their kids alone when they believe they're responsible enough. I know my parents never let me stay home alone until I turned 16 though.

[roseofblack25]

same here i wasnt allowed to stay alone till i was about 15

[iced_faerie]

I guess it depends on the parent

[decemberlily]

I started babysitting at 11 (illegally lol) but wasnt allowed to stay home alone until I was 13 or 14... I know, odd...

I can't believe those parents thought it was ok to leave a 2 year old unsupervised! Nevermind his sister!