Port Police Report: 911 Calls Not Much of an Emergency

The Ozaukee County Sheriff's office has long been battling "false" 911 calls — hangups, misdials, pocket dials and more.

Statistics on the county's website show 272 false 911 calls in 1997, and 314 in 1998, with such numbers, "increasing every day," according to the website.

"When officers respond to these false 911 calls, they take the risk of being involved in a motor vehicle crash with their emergency vehicles," the website said. "If the citizens would take a few simple precautions, this risk will be minimized and the number of false 911 calls will be reduced dramatically."

Here are some of the recent false 911 calls that the Port Washington Police Department responded to, perhaps providing some perspective on ways to prevent such "misdials."

• 1:30 p.m. May 24: Several 911 open line calls were received from a subject in the 1700 block of New Port Vista Drive. The calls were found to be pocket dials from a painter working in one of the residences, and no emergency was found.
• 6:04 p.m. May 20: A 22-year-old Saukville man was spoken to after a 911 call was received from his phone in the 200 blk of E. Main St. He advised that he had accidentally pocket dialed, and there was no emergency.
• 9:34 a.m. May 21:  A 44-year-old Port woman was spoken to after a 911 call was received from her phone while in the 100 blk E. Woodruff St.  She advised she accidentally touched the emergency button.  No emergency was observed at that time.
• 6:59 p.m. May 26:  A 61-year-old Port woman was spoken to after a 911 call was received from her residence in the 500 block of North Milwaukee Street.  She advised she accidentally hit the emergency button on the phone and there were no problems.