LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – The Lincoln Police Department is investigating a series of fictitious emergency calls involving false reports of fires across the city at several homes and an LPS high school.
Over the past month, the 911 Emergency Communications Center has received at least eight hoax calls, including four since Monday afternoon.
LPD said in each instance, the report comes from an unknown caller on a local crisis line with information about an active fire at a specific address.
But when first responders arrive, there’s nothing to be found. The calls are ultimately determined to be false alarms and the units return to service.
Mike Eastman, whose home was one of the addresses targeted in these calls, said he was there when the call came through.
He said his neighbors use the app PulsePoint, which allows users to see live alerts of emergency calls, and tipped him off that his house was on fire.
“I was sitting in the kitchen, if it was on fire I should’ve noticed it,“ Eastman said. ”So I got up and checked the house just to make sure and everything was OK.”
On Tuesday, emergency crews were also dispatched to a reported fire and injuries at Lincoln Southeast High School around 12:15 p.m. When they got there, crews searched the building and did not find anything out of the ordinary, and again the call was determined to be a hoax.
As of Tuesday afternoon, LFR and LPD received another apparently fake fire call, this time to a home in south Lincoln.
The emergency communications center said these false alarm calls divert resources away from real emergencies, affecting public safety.
“It’s a waste of money,“ Eastman said. ”And time for them. They got real stuff they got to do, not running around chasing their tails.”
“LECC takes every phone call and text message from our community seriously, operating under the assumption that all reports reflect genuine emergencies. However, when these requests for emergency services are determined to be swatting incidents, they have a detrimental impact on public safety, community trust and city resources.”
LPD adds that it’s actively investigating the calls, and that misuse of emergency services is a serious offense.
Anyone with information about the incidents are urged to contacted LPD at 402-441-6000.
https://www.1011now.com/2024/11/19/lincoln-police-firefighters-investigate-serious-fake-911-calls/
