Calls from international cell phones trigger 911 responses

Jefferson County Chief Deputy Gregg Morton told the board of supervisors Tuesday he had prepared a letter to Maharishi Vedic City Mayor Bob Wynn, with a fee schedule for misdialed 911 emergency calls.

Supervisors discussed options and agreed to ask for a meeting with officials from Vedic City and the pandit project to talk about the situation face-to-face. A meeting date was not set Tuesday.

?We sent a letter in 2010 to officials about getting misdialed 911 calls originating from the pandit compound in Vedic City,? said Morton. ?I suggest sending another letter and enforcing fees.

?It?s not about collecting money,? said Morton. ?It?s about trying to stop these calls. It?s pulling resources. In the first nine months of 2010, we had 18 misdialed 911 calls from the pandits. The first nine months this year, those calls numbered 41.?

Supervisor chairman Steve Burgmeier said any fees would need to be dealt with through the 28E agreement Vedic City has with Fairfield.

?Vedic City has grown from 250 to about 1,500 people,? he said. ?We need to re-negotiate 28E agreement contracts. We need to look at all small towns? agreements in the county.?

Morton said he?d like to see Vedic City police its own 911 calls dialed from the pandits? compound. Law enforcement is required to respond to all 911 calls, even if a caller calls again to report the misdial.

?We were told two years ago this situation would be handled,? said Morton.

Burgmeier said the monetary cost to law enforcement should be figured.

?I agree we need to re-negotiate,? said supervisor Lee Dimmitt. ?But we?re trying to stop the situation of misdialed calls now.?

Burgmeier asked how many misdialed 911 calls are received from another community of similar size in the county. Morton did not have any figures.

?How can we treat this situation differently [from other Jefferson County communities]?? asked supervisor Dick Reed. ?You have a higher concentration of people, you have a higher incidence of mistakes.?

The pandit population began in 2006 with 380 pandits living in a gated compound at the northwest corner of Vedic City. Currently, about 700 men from India live in mobile homes on the compound. The population fluctuates. Each pandit makes a two-year commitment to stay in Vedic City, and more are brought in to replace those who leave. Building is ongoing and plans are to accommodate up to 1,200 pandits on site in the near future, according to a source connected with the program.

The 2010 U.S. Census reported Vedic City?s population at 1,294, including pandits; 259 was the count of non-pandit residents in the census.

Morton said the problem is exacerbated because the calls originate from out-of-country supplied cell phones.

?We can?t trace who dials the call,? he said. ?We can only pinpoint the geographic location, the pandits? compound. They dial 9 first to get out, then an international code 1-1 and it triggers the emergency system.

?I?m trying not to come down heavy,? said Morton. ?When we go out there, the road security guards are good to us.?

Burgmeier said he has a problem with singling out one population in the county.

?If you have a policy about calls or fees, it needs to be county-wide,? he said. ?We need to treat everyone the same.?

Morton said law enforcement is not encountering the same problem elsewhere in the county.

?I can see maybe treating an entire type or amount of people or community the same, say compared to another trailer court or an outlying community such as Batavia or Lockridge,? said Reed. ?But you?ve talked with officials before and it didn?t do any good. If you build a fee structure, it should be $25 or above for a misdialed 911 call.

?When Vedic City incorporated [2001], we were told they would have their own services in five to seven years. Now we?re 11 or 12 years past. If they have a census update, why don?t they have their own services?? asked Reed.

Dimmitt said someone from Vedic City needed to attend a supervisors? meeting to discuss the issue. ?I?d like to have a conversation,? he said. ?If it?s something that can be changed in the dialing process, it should be changed.?

?I don?t disagree its a problem, and I don?t disagree you shouldn?t do something,? said Burgmeier. ?You can send the letter and bill, but I don?t know if they?ll pay.?

Morton said he?d like to meet with officials from Vedic City and the supervisors, ?so you can hear what I hear.?

Burgmeier reiterated 28E agreements need to be completed and signed by January.

?We need to look at all Jefferson County communities? agreements,? he said. ?We?ll need to research what it says now.?