BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
FRANKLIN -- Police and telephone company officials were baffled Wednesday over automated phone calls that hundreds of residents have received urging them to call their local police department.
The mysterious messages, which began last week and continued Wednesday, are being left on answering machines and breaking into phone conversations. They are also coming in the middle of the night, frightening some residents.
"We're still investigating it at our end," said Greg Sample, director of external relations at Ameritech, which provides phone service to about 20,000 customers in Franklin, Franklin Township and Carlisle. "It's very perplexing. It's not something we've experienced before."
The message simply tells residents to call the police department and leaves no clue as to the caller or where it is coming from, said Mr. Sample.
The company believes the message is automated, coming from a computer system somewhere. But company officials don't know if that system is its own, or from the outside, Mr. Sample said.
"It's not a live person doing it," he said. "There's a question in everyone's mind. Anything is possible with technology."
The situation has frazzled police dispatchers who have handled calls from confused residents. Franklin dispatchers have taken more than 800 calls from their residents, while Carlisle officials have had at least 100.
While the incidents may be a prank, some residents have been scared by the message.
"They think something had happened to a family member," said Franklin dispatcher Jan Ayers. "It's aggravating."
Dispatchers are telling callers they should notify Ameritech. "They've got other things to do than answer these calls," said Franklin Police Chief Bob Rockwood. "It's excessive calls. We only have one person on dispatch."
The calls seem to be contained in the 746 and 743 exchanges, Mr. Sample said.
"There are people who are dedicating full time and attempting to get it resolved," he said. "It's random in its pattern, for sure."
Even Chief Rockwood was not immune. He was at his home on the phone to Lebanon on Monday when the message broke in.
In Carlisle, police officers have sometimes had to come in off the road to return a call to a resident who received the bogus message.
"It can be time-consuming if you have a bunch of calls all at once," said Carlisle Police Lt. John Perry. "It's tying us up."
