September 4, 2007
Crank 911 Calls
Someone in Vallejo (or San Francisco?) thinks he's freakin’ hilarious flooding 911 with crank calls. The crank caller has been using a donated cell phone, perhaps one that was donated to the homeless (why do the homeless need cell phones?), to call in fake emergencies.
The man, known as “Nomar” has made around 2,000 calls to 911 since March. Calls, it seems, are made in San Francisco, but are about incidents in Vallejo. These faux-mergencies include suicide attempts, robberies, and heart attacks. Nomar does such a good job making the emergencies sounds real, that he basically fools emergency staff every time. Maybe he should consider a career in voice-overs.
Nomar has yet to be tracked down, mainly because the cell phone he uses has no carrier. 911 calls can be made from any cellular phone, whether or not you can afford to foot the bill.
You can find out more information about Nomar and his crank calls here.
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So that's what my $15 or so in fees and taxes on my AT&T phone line (in addition to the $10.69 for the phone line itself) go towards - providing an audience to idiots with otherwise non-working cell phones. Fantastic .... Maybe offering 911 on non-subscribed cell phones isn't such a good idea - or at least, we need some sort of registration.
the phone company if asked should be able to shut him down. it's called location based services and they had it working years ago. get a clue people!
What's this? Services for the homeless constituting a drain on taxpayer resources? Unthinkable!
Wow. From being the most beloved member of the Boston Red Sox to making crank calls to 911 in Vallejo...Nomar has fallen so far.
ha matt..You know I asked the same question awhile back in this care not cash building of THC. Everybody here has cell phones. I think I'm the only one who doesn't have a cell phone (works for a living). I remember asking one homeless person 'how come you guys all have cell phones'?
she got really nasty with me at that point
I never could figure that one out, and apparently you guys are thinking the same thing
that's too funny. They say the calls are actually come from SF itself. It would not shock me to find out it was coming from one of my welfare neighbors. (who are always on those cell phones)
Providing cell phones to the homeless is actually a proactive and pragmatic response to the homeless problem. Can you imagine applying for a job (or accessing ANYTHING) without a phone? It's pretty much impossible. It makes sense to give the homeless cell phones (usually the pay as you go kind)in order to reduce the barrier between them and mainstream society. Since they do not have consistent addresses, etc., a cell phone (or voicemail service) allows them to get in contact with employers, case managers, mental health professionals, potentially supportive friends and family, etc... I am curious what solutions or services mattymatt & co. wouldn't view as a waste or drain on taxpayers' resources.
They should be able to detect the specific hardware used to make the calls. Then, next time the idiot calls in, stall him for a while, figure out which cell he is calling from, and talk him out onto the street. Then arrest and charge him for FELONY (not misdemeanor) false reporting. And I bet pick him up on other outstanding warrants too.
This is serious stuff. Even the Coalition For Homelessness would not defend or excuse this behavior (I hope).
The issues is that many employed people get along just fine without cell phones. Voice mail mailboxes for the homeless is far more useful, less expensive, and prone to fewer abuses. In reality, short of 911 use, cell phones are a luxury item.
A homeless voice mail system only costs about $100/mo to run (asterisk, server, DSL, 888 number, electric) and can handle thousands of voiceboxes. A cell phone costs at least $20 up front, plus minutes, and creates excessive toxic materials for land fills.
In the end, the tax payers shouldn't pay for these programs at all, but rather churches and non-profits.
I love this story because it brings out all the ill-informed but hilariously self-righteous bloviators (see: SFGate comments section).
Here are the facts:
- The cell phones are DONATED.
- They are INACTIVE. No service plan. No voicemail. No text.
- All inactive cell phones, regardless of whose palm they are in, is capable of dialing 911.
So fear not, Guest #8. Your precious tax dollars do nothing but subsidize an emergency system that everyone can access.
And to continue, those of you who shaking your heads and proclaiming such access a bad idea, should you ever get stuck somewhere remote or far from home and need emergency help, you'll thank your icon of choice that this regulation allowed you to reach help instead of getting a message informing you that "roaming is not available on your service plan."
But as this is the Internet and we're all perfect beings who crap diamonds and fart perfumed air, I'm certain we'll never, ever run into a situation like that.
Wow.
The petty bourgeois is restive this afternoon.
Good grief, guest 9/10, what makes you so self-righteous? Some posters get frustrated with the fact that some jerk is abusing something we all (including you) are paying for and you jump on your high horse and give everyone the finger? Do you have any perspective on this situation? Maybe *you* are Nomar?!?!?!? ;)
Require registration for the 911 option to work - easy enough - someone who will take responsibility. If it isn't registered (or the registered information turns out to be bogus), turn off the 911 access. Best of both worlds..
#13 continues to miss the point.
No, #13 refuses to see the point.
NOMAR is RAMON spelled backward so a clever sleuth would naturally look for a male named Ramon walking backward talking on a cellphone.
Playing with 911 is a really dumb thing to do, so if you know who NOMAR/RAMON is, simply take his/her cellphone away from he/her and smash it into a thousand pieces.
If somebody gives him another one, do it again.
Can't someone make a crank 911 call for free from a payphone? Can't a non-homeless idiot make a prank 911 call? If the cell phone/ voicemail system is improving these peoples' lives by allowing them to access services and get in contact with potential employers? Bottom line-- the behavior is reprehensible... not all homeless people, not all homeless people with cell phones.
RinconHillSF makes an excellent point, why aren't the emergency-only cell phones registered to their owner? Don't all phones have unique serial or MAC numbers that are sent to 911?
Pay-phone 911 calls can at least be traced to a certain physical phone where security cameras might be in place.
Dialing 911 for anything other than a true emergency puts lives at risk!
911 service from land lines always displays ID info to the agent. E911 [enhanced] can give even more info than name address. For example, special needs can be programmed into the database like "woman in iron lung in basement bedroom"
For the most part the location of a mobile device can't be determined by the agent. calling 911 from a mobile device usually gets answered by CHP at a central place in Fairfield[?] for our area. They have to ask where you are, and transfer you to the right agency such as SFPD. Thats why it's important to remember or program the mobile SF ONLY emergency number which is 415-553-8090. That eliminates the extra step of being transfered by the CHP.
Many if not most of the donated phones do not have GPS chips in them. Some of the phones we use do have GPS chips in them, but the carriers don't always tell you or activate them. Sprint plans to charge for special GPS services, like finding where your kid is at.
Remember that there are different carriers using different types of technology. It's very difficult to even know what network someone's 911 call is coming in on, let alone isolate it to a specific cell tower especially in the short span this weirdo is one the line with 911.
why aren't the emergency-only cell phones registered to their owner?
Okay. You have the name of the homeless person and the address of the organization that provided them with the cell phone six months to a year ago.
Bear in mind that the homeless population can be quite mobile out of necessity (harassment from police/other homeless/etc), and that there's a greater chance of theft or abandonment (or even hand me down) of items than there might be with the housed population.
Now what?
Now nothing if they're not abusing the 911 service. If the 911 service is being abused via a particular handset, there should be a way to cut off access permanently. I don't care about the socioeconomic status of someone who just focuses on consuming the communities' resources - I want them cut off.
I want them cut off.
Off with their heads! You heard the man!
Be quick about it! My resources are being abused - abused I say!
The better smart phones have secret "kill pill" software that can be activated remotely by the carrier if the device is lost/stolen. It erases the memory so the phone list and emails get zapped.
Let them add a remote "kill user" feature and we can get rid of this guy for good. He's probably a graffiti tagger any way.
Or better yet, mariconsoy, the phone could "self-destruct" and taser the abusive caller.
how about having it packed with c4 so we can just take care of the homeless problem altogether?
;)