"somebody stole my weed"
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GLENDALE, AZ (CBS5) -
The 911 dispatchers have heard it all. But Glendale Police are starting a new campaign to show you it's not all fun and games.
"Someone stole my weed," said one caller to the dispatch center in Glendale.
"Somebody stole your weed," dispatcher Jessica Kunz repeated when she received the call.
"It was my very last call," Kunz told CBS 5 News. "I thought, this guy has got to be kidding me."
"And you think the police are going to come out and take care of that for you?" Kunz asked the caller.
"I don't know, if it's to serve and protect," he responded.
"My emergency is my dog Samantha is locked in the bathroom," another caller said.
While they seem harmless, frivolous calls and butt dials take away precious time from a tight staff.
"That can take a couple of minutes out of that call taker's ready time to take that call who is having a heart attack, or was in a car accident," Kunz said.
"We didn't want to glorify that and we don't want by any means for people to start calling 911 just to be a part of our public awareness campaign," said Sgt. Jay O'Neill with the Glendale Police Department.
The department is starting a new social media push to drive people to their website, outlining appropriate reasons to call 911 and deterring people from playing games.
"We have, in the city of Glendale, prosecuted for misuse of 911," O'Neill said.