KID'S 911 CALL LEADS TO GROW OP

If a roomful of monkeys typing away could eventually produce Hamlet,
it's not hard to realize why so many children, left alone with a
telephone, end up dialling 911.

What's unfortunate from their parents' point of view - but purely
fortuitous for the police - would be the subsequent visit from law
enforcement, if there happens to be criminal activity going on in the
home.

No one should call 911 except in case of emergency. However, there are
times when the caller hangs up before the operator can determine what
is wrong. Because there is the chance of someone being in serious
trouble, police will respond, with mixed results.

Sometimes it's a true emergency, sometimes it's a false alarm or a
prank - and occasionally it's a small child, randomly hitting the
numbers on a telephone keypad.

When the phone rang in the 911 call centre recently, operators could
hear a young voice in the background, but nothing else. When they
called back, the line was constantly busy, so Burnaby RCMP went to
check it out.

When they arrived at the home, they found a two-year-old who had been
playing with the phone - and a marijuana grow op.

The officers seized 336 plants and arrested two Burnaby residents, a
36-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man. Both face charges under the
Controlled Drug and Substances Act.

In another instance, a man called 911, said there was someone in his
home and hung up. Operators at the call centre called back and the
woman who answered the phone said the man who had called was high on
drugs.

Officers arriving at the home discovered a 40-year-old drug addict
suffering extreme paranoia. They took him to the police cells to sober
up.