Council Member Arrested for Abuse of 911 System

A Balch Springs city council member has been arrested for an alleged abuse of the 911 system.

Police said councilwoman Wanda Adams called 911 from the Dollar General store last week, and once officers arrived, they say she told them she wanted to see how fast police responded.

“Don’t tax our resources answering false alarms and false calls when we could be better serving our community,” said Deputy Police Chief Jonathan Haver.

Adams confirmed to NBC 5 she made the call but defended herself, saying it was not a test.
“Not at all. It was not an abuse,” said Adams.

Adams said she made the call because of a series of burglaries at the Dollar General. Most recently, this week, the burglars were caught on tape, and employees confronted them. Adams said employees feared for their safety. After talking to them, she felt their concern was an emergency.

“This is an emergency, because this is safety. I am their council person, therefore, something needs to be done,” she said. “ You had some frightened employees.”

Adams had already spoken to the police department about the issue earlier in the day. After dialing 911, she put the phone down, thinking she hung up.

“Then I thought about it, and I said maybe not, and I put the phone down. I thought the phone was hung up,” she said.

Haber said police also got another call around the same time about a domestic violence situation.

He believes Adams was tying up resources.

“When the officers approached her," Haber said, "she said she was testing our response time.”

“My comment was to the officer, ‘Well, this was in a way two-fold for me. I called about an emergency. Now I see, too, what people say about the response time of the police department,’” explained Adams.

Now, the woman considered a fighter on the city council may have a legal fight on her hands.

A charge of silent or abuse calls to 911 services is a class B misdemeanor. Adams was booked Thursday and released on a $500 bond.

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