Friday, October 29, 1999
Who's tripping Boone sirens?
Police seek vandal with special radio
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Someone has set off Boone County's severe weather sirens twice in the past five weeks — when there's not been a cloud in the sky.
Boone County police and emergency management officials are searching for the culprit who has either recorded or found a way to duplicate the sequence of tones used to set off the system.
The sirens sit atop poles and include antennas so they can receive activation tones from dispatchers though a radio frequency, but someone else is sending the signals.
“Public safety would activate them for severe weather, but obviously in the last five weeks we haven't had any,” said Bill Appleby, Boone County emergency management director.
Officials suspect someone may be driving around the county with a radio and activat ing the warning system. Mr. Appleby said he doesn't know whether it is a former employee or someone else.
“Someone, somewhere has a radio on that frequency,” he said.
The worst incident was around 7 a.m. on Oct 16.
“Dispatchers were attempting to terminate the cycle but whoever had the tones would restart them,” said Dan Maher, deputy director for Boone County emergency management. “They continued for roughly 30 minutes.”
The 29 sirens across Boone County are designed to only run a few minutes at a time. Kenton County's siren system was also activated that same morning and went off for about 20 minutes.
The conclusion that it was deliberate was inescapable, said Bary Lusby, Kenton County emergency management director.
Campbell County has fire department alerting sirens, a system that is not similar to Kenton's or Boone's.
Emergency management officials are worried residents will become complacent if it keeps happening, or the sirens, which cost $16,000 each, could be damaged.
Whoever is responsible could be charged with accessing a radio system without proper authorization and with terroristic threatening, a class A misdemeanor that carries a punishment of up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
“It's the same category as yelling "fire' in a movie theater when there's no fire,” said Capt. Jack Prindle of the Boone County Police Department.
WHERE TO CALL
Anyone with information about the incidents should call:
• Boone County Police Department at 334-2157
• Kenton County Police Department at 356-3895
• Boone County Emergency Management office at 334-2279
• Kenton County Emergency Management office at 431-2326.
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