AB 47, as amended, Gatto. Emergency telephone system: abuse.
Under existing law, any person who knowingly allows the use of, or who uses, the 911 telephone system for any reason other than because of an emergency is guilty of an infraction. Any person who uses the 911 telephone system with the intent to annoy or harass another person is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than 6 months, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
This bill would make any person who calls the 911 telephone system to dispatch a police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical service personnel response to a residence or place of business where there is no emergency, with the intent to annoy or harass another person, and police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical service personnel are dispatched as a result of the call, guilty of a
misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $2,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. Under the bill, the person responsible for that call is guilty of an offense punishable by a fine not exceeding $10,000, by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years, or by both that fine and imprisonment, if any person sustained great bodily injury as a result of conduct arising out of and in the course of the police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical service dispatch. The bill would define “annoybegin delete andend deletebegin insert orend insert harass” as knowing and willful conduct directed at a specific person, or his or her family members, that seriously alarms, annoys, torments, or terrorizes the person, or his or her family members, and that
serves no legitimate purpose. This bill would require, upon conviction, that the person shall also be liable for all reasonable costs incurred by any unnecessary emergency response. This bill would exempt from its provisions telephone calls made in good faith. By increasing the penalty for an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 653.01 is added to the Penal Code, to
2read:
(a) Any person who calls the 911 telephone system
4to dispatch a police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical
5service personnel response to a residence or place of business
6where there is no emergency, with the intent to annoy or harass
7another person and if police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency
8medical service personnel are dispatched as a result of the
9telephone call, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of
10not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000), by imprisonment in
11a county jail for not more than one year, or by both that fine and
12imprisonment.
13(b) Any person who calls the 911 telephone system to dispatch
14a police, sheriff, fire
department, or emergency medical service
15personnel response to a residence or place of business where there
P3 1is no emergency, with the intent to annoy or harass another person
2and if police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical service
3personnel are dispatched and any person sustains great bodily
4injury as a result of conduct arising out of and in the course of the
5police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical service
6personnel being dispatched to the residence or place of business,
7is guilty of an offense punishable by a fine of not more than ten
8thousand dollars ($10,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not
9exceeding one year, or, pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section
101170, for 16 months, or two or three years, or by both that fine
11and imprisonment.
12(c) This section does not preclude punishment under any other
13law
providing for greater punishment, including, but not limited
14to, involuntary manslaughter as defined in subdivision (b) of
15Section 192.
16(d) For purposes of this section, “emergency” means any
17condition in which emergency services will result in the saving of
18a life, a reduction in the destruction of property, quicker
19apprehension of criminals, or assistance with potentially
20life-threatening medical problems, a fire, a need for rescue, an
21imminent potential crime, or a similar situation in which immediate
22assistance is required.
23(e) For purposes of this section, “annoybegin delete andend deletebegin insert orend insert harass” means
24knowing and
willful conduct directed at a specific person, or his
25or her family members, that seriously alarms, annoys, torments,
26or terrorizes the person, or his or her family members, and that
27serves no legitimate purpose.
28(f) Upon conviction of this section, a person shall also be liable
29for all reasonable costs, including property damage, incurred by
30an unnecessary police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency
31medical service personnel response.
32(g) This section shall not apply to telephone calls made in good
33faith.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
35Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
36the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
37district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
38infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
39for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
40the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
P4 1the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
2Constitution.
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