MARYSVILLE — Law officers believe he called again and again.
And again and again and again some more.
A Marysville man was arrested Wednesday night and booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of 18 counts of false reporting an emergency, a gross misdemeanor.
He allegedly made the calls to SNOPAC 911 early Tuesday morning and on Wednesday night.
Deputies with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office believe the suspect, 26, was intoxicated. In some instances, he allegedly reported that people were at his house with guns. During one call, he allegedly said his landlord aimed a gun at him.
The man had been warned by a sheriff’s sergeant the week before that if he called 911 under false pretenses he would be arrested.
Such incidents are a big concern to SNOPAC 911 staff.
False reporting calls take time away from real emergencies.
“It does take a significant amount of time for the call-taker to process those,” said Angela Adams, a supervisor in SNOPAC’s training and standards office.
SNOPAC employees are passionate about helping others, but “they want to get the help to people who need it,” she said.
Sometimes callers accidentally dial 911. In those instances, they should remain on the line to let the call-taker know. Otherwise, the 911 caller is likely to receive a call from someone at SNOPAC trying to determine if there is an actual emergency and to write an incident summary.
Some callers with an emergency also continue to call when efforts are being made to get them help. That, too, can delay efforts to help other people in need.
In any given year, SNOPAC can receive 40,000 hang-up calls among the 600,000 calls it can expect to process. Each hang-up requires some level of follow up.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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