By David Falchek
The Citizens’ Voice
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — The 911 call early Sunday was routine - an elderly woman with lower back pain requesting an ambulance.
What happened next was anything but.
Someone with a two-way radio responded to the Wayne County Communication Center dispatcher almost immediately. “Waymart 1,” the male voice said. It was an imposter.
For more than an hour, the 78-year-old woman waited for assistance.
The incident has demoralized the Waymart Ambulance crew, although they had nothing to do with the ruse. This week, they’ve been working quickly to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“Everyone here is riled and angered,” said Anita Thompson, Waymart Ambulance’s director of operations.
A dozen radios will be programmed with identifiers that will show communications center dispatchers the communication is authentic.
Waymart first responders have listened to a recording of the imposter over and over, checking the voice against their members, past members or rejected job applicants. The poser knew the protocol. So far, there are no leads.
Fortunately, such malicious interference with emergency responses is rare. But emergency management practitioners say it is far too easy.
Many off-the-shelf analog two-way radios, in knowledgeable hands, can be programmed with the emergency frequencies, said Fred Rosencrans, Luzerne County 911 director.
“Knock on wood, we’ve never had anyone interfering with a dispatch in that manner,” he said.
Several agencies in Luzerne County already have the radio identifiers. When a communication is made to dispatch, the radio’s identifier number is matched with the user’s name and agency to which the radio is assigned. It pops up on the dispatcher’s screen.
“They are trained to interpret the zones and recognize when someone is on a wrong channel or a stolen radio,” he said. “We would know an imposter.”
The use of radio identifier would eliminate the problem but they are not mandatory. Rosencrans said departments with identifiers have newer radios. Programming identifiers with the channels is a best practice.
Identifiers can help find or locate a first responder in distress. They can be used to disable radios that are stolen.
“I would like to see identifiers be mandatory,” he said. “I see a benefit.”
If caught, state police said the impostor will be charged with reckless endangerment and impersonating a public servant.
“If this is a joke or vendetta, we don’t know,” Thompson said. “I’d love to ask that person how they would feel if that were someone in their family.”
The 78-year-old woman lives in Bethany, just five miles from the Wayne Memorial Hospital.
Steve Gorecki, a spokesman for Motorola, said some agencies are switching to digital encryption. That would entail newer radios for every agency.
“Sounds like the situation is a matter of older equipment,” Gorecki said. “In the last five years, radios have evolved.”
dfalchek@timesshamrock.com