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Broken cable silences Weber dispatch center

Last updated Wednesday, September 5, 2012 - 9:40pm

OGDEN — A fiber optic cable inadvertently cut near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple in Ogden prevented the Weber Area Consolidated Dispatch Center from receiving 911 and non-emergency calls Wednesday afternoon.

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Towing firms asked to apply for rotation

Loretta Park Standard-Examiner

Last updated Saturday, June 23, 2012 - 10:37pm

FARMINGTON — Tow companies interested in a slot on the Davis County Sheriff’s Communication Center rotation schedule can apply now during open enrollment.

Davis County Sheriff's Office, Dispatch, Towing, Utah Read more Comments

911 tapes in Ogden officers’ shooting released

Scott Schwebke Standard-Examiner

Last updated Thursday, February 2, 2012 - 6:29pm

Click here for an updated version of this story

Listen to the 911 audio files

OGDEN — The Weber County Attorney’s Office has released recordings of police radio traffic and the initial 911 call from a Jan. 4 shooting that killed an Ogden police officer and wounded five other officers.

6 police officers shot, 911 tape, Dispatch, Ogden Shooting, Utah Read more Comments

Weber, Morgan fire departments use new system for emergencies

Jesus Lopez Jr. Standard-Examiner

Last updated Sunday, November 27, 2011 - 11:47pm

OGDEN — When a call goes out to the fire departments in Weber County, a robotic voice alerts first responders if it will be fire or medical.

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ANTHONY SOUFFLE/Standard-Examiner
Weber and Morgan County dispatcher Robin Carpenter poses for a portrait between fielding calls on Friday at the Weber Area Dispatch Center in Ogden. Carpenter recently walked a couple through a live birth in their car.

911 dispatcher's memorable call: Helping deliver a baby

Jamie Lampros Standard-Examiner

Last updated Monday, October 10, 2011 - 6:18am

OGDEN -- When Robin Carpenter's phone rings at work, it's usually not good news.

Car accidents, shootings, heart attacks, family fights, attempted suicides, drug overdoses, and even babies being born on the side of the road are just a few of the things she hears about when she picks up the receiver.

Emergency, Baby, Birth, Childbirth, Dispatch, Utah, Utah Faces, Featured Read more Comments

Ashley and Ben Marsden pose for a portrait with their new son Hawk at their home in South Willard on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Hawk was born early Monday morning at the side of I-15 near Ogden. NICHOLAS DRANEY/Standard-Examiner

Baby born along I-15 a birthday surprise for mom

JaNae Francis Standard-Examiner

Last updated Wednesday, September 21, 2011 - 10:17pm

WILLARD -- Ashley Marsden was born at home 31 years ago on Sept. 19 when her mother didn't have time to make it to the hospital after she went into labor.

Emergency, Baby, Birth, Childbirth, Dispatch, Infants, Utah, Featured, Interstate 15 Read more Comments

Phone phreakers dispatch Swat teams falsely to houses

Robbyn Mitchell St. Petersburg Times

Last updated Wednesday, August 31, 2011 - 11:52am

BRANDON, Fla. -- Debora Marshall wasn't sure what she was witnessing. She came home from work to find sheriff's cruisers blocking streets in her sleepy Florida subdivision. Deputies with guns drawn and bulletproof vests surrounded her house.

"They had it blocked off at both ends. I thought a murderer was on the loose," she said.

So did the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities thought her son had killed her.

"My son was home and clueless," Marshall said. "I was at work, and all my neighbors thought I was dead."

In what appears to be the first incident of its kind in Hillsborough County, someone falsely and anonymously reported a murder and hostage situation that easily could have drawn a special weapons and tactics team and deadly consequences.

Crime, Dispatch, False alarm, SWAT, National Read more Comments

911 hoax calls becoming a bigger problem

Shawn Boburg The Record (Hackensack N.J.)

Last updated Monday, August 15, 2011 - 5:35pm

A California couple with a 2-year-old daughter is awakened late at night by heavily armed police storming their home after a false report of a shooting.

A Texas family is stunned when officers with automatic weapons respond to their house expecting a drug-fueled murderer who is demanding $50,000 in exchange for hostages.

And a Wyckoff, N.J., neighborhood is put on lock-down as the Bergen County SWAT team shoots tear gas into what proves to be a home occupied only by a cat.

In each case, the people who wound up in the crosshairs were actually victims of a dangerous and increasingly common hoax known as "swatting," so called because a bogus emergency call prompts the response of a SWAT team.

It is typically perpetrated by young, savvy computer hackers who exploit the limitations of the 911 emergency system and advances in computer technology to cover their tracks, experts and law enforcement officials say. They do it for bragging rights or revenge, but it costs taxpayers and puts innocent people at risk, experts say.

Crime, 911, Dispatch, Hoaxes, Police, National Read more Comments