On Monday, March 18, 2019, the Parmer County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from what sounded like a very young female caller. The caller stated that she heard a noise and found her mother on the floor. The caller didn’t know her address and then the call was cut short for an unknown reason. Most 911 call centers will receive calls from children either playing with the phone or making an accidental call but this call seemed different.
In most 911 calls, information is received which identifies the phone and the caller. Location information is also gathered, but in this case there was no location information received. The information that was received indicated that the phone was a cell phone and the number informed us that it was an inactive phone which had no service. The Sheriff’s Office was able to determine, from the 911 system and the cellular provider, the location of the cell tower where the call originated. It was this information that narrowed the search area.
Sheriff’s officers, along with the Friona EMS, began to go house to house looking for the caller. When they considered the service area of the cell tower, the caller location could have involved many homes which included the City of Friona. It was then decided to involve the public by using social media and the 911 database to send out a message to persons in the surrounding area of Friona in which we believed the call came from. The goal was to speed the search in an attempt to locate the caller. The Friona ISD was also contacted and they assisted in seeking the caller.
As of Tuesday, March 19, 2019, this caller has not been located and no one has been reported injured or missing.
The Parmer County Sheriff’s Office would like to use this incident to remind parents that old cell phones may not be able to use high-speed data networks, take photos or play music, but they can be used to call 911 in an emergency. Federal law requires that ALL cellphones must be able to call 911 at all times. As long as an old cell phone is functional, it can be used as an emergency phone. This is true even with no SIM card or service. In these incidents, no caller identification is received. Children who are given old deactivated phones to play with or view videos can still call 911. Many accidental calls are made from these old phones.
