Police in Leeds URGENT 999 Hunt to trace 3 year old girl

Calling all Edugeeks especially any in LEEDS

Girl Sparks Urgent 999 Hunt In Leeds

Quote:

---

Police in West Yorkshire have launched an urgent appeal to trace a little girl who dialled 999 to say her mother was not moving.

The girl, who gave her name as Ellie, called the ambulance service to say her mum had fallen at their home in Leeds.

She said she was three years old and that her mother is called Stacey Hall.

She also told the 999 operators that her house number was 23 and had "Mount" in the street name.

She said her grandparents lived in Bridlington.

The call was made at 10.53am yesterday but despite extensive enquiries since then the police have been unable to identify where it came from.

---

EDIT - No wait, Bridlington is where her grandparents live. Good job I don't work for 999. >.<

Sad story though. :(

BBC are saying

Quote:

---

During the call, which lasted 33 minutes, she said her house number was 23 and her address contained the word "Court".

---

BBC News - West Yorkshire Police appeal over girl's 999 call

There are inconsistencies in the various stories. The BBC is reporting "During the call, which lasted 33 minutes, she said her house number was 23 and her address contained the word "Court". (BBC News - West Yorkshire Police appeal over girl's 999 call) So how can they expect to get a response when different sources cite different address details.

Beaten to it by JJonas, but our point is the same.

If she made a call, how come they can't backtrack the call like they claim to be able to do?

They can. Unless she called from a mobile, in which case the cell would be identifiable. I smell a rat...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andrew_C

They can. Unless she called from a mobile, in which case the cell would be identifiable. I smell a rat...

---

Well exactly! Which begs several questions really:

1) Have the police fudged up? Have they somehow failed to have the correct call monitoring in place?

2) If the call was from a mobile phone and the cell location can be identified, a quick 'Google search' should yield possible addresses so what is wrong with the data they received?

3) The call was 33 minutes long. Why did the operator only manage to get 4 pieces of usable information: Ellie, Stacey Hall, 23, court? There are lots of questions you can ask a 3yo to get better answers: 'do you go to nursery/playgroup'?, 'what can you see out of the window'? 'Does anyone else live with you?' 'how do you get into your house? Do you have to climb stairs or go in a lift or do you have a garden?' Blimey even getting 1 word answers to those three questions would give you more to go on!

Smell a rat indeed! What variety remains to be seen.

Yes, it is sooo easy to get answers out of a hysterical and terrified three year old whose mother is motionless on the floor. They did well to get what information they did.

Well with my telcoms hat on:

1) They should have a recording of the call (they should be recording everything in a 999 call centre, I do and I'm only selling things). So there should not be any confusion over what was said.
2) Calls can be traced in most circumstances. Either down to the street address on a POTS line or at least to the cell on a mobile network. The only situation where it's impossible to trace geographically is when it's come via Skype, Google Voice or a SIP provider etc. Any reputable service offering Internet telephony wont let you dial 999 via their service specifically for this reason.

Hmmm seems a bit far fetched also for a child to come up with this kind of story.

They do have a recording of they call, they have released it, play the video at the top of the page

just been checking twitter there is no dedicated hash tag yet

someone did tweet (to the police) a possible address they found using google

The news have got the name wrong the little girls name is "Erin" not Ellie

News ticker on Sky now says it was a hoax

http://news.sky.com/story/967204/999...leeds-was-hoax

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2012-0...ller-in-leeds/

Quote:

---

West Yorkshire Police have confirmed that the 999 call from 'Ellie' was a hoax. Police believe the call was made by two 10 year old girls living in Bridlington. Officers are current liaising with girls parents to decide what action to take.

---

Just a bit about the 999 system.

When the call is taken by BT before been put through to the correct emergency service the number can be traced. If the call is made by mobile Cable & Wireless handle this and the phone co-ordinates are passed through the system to trace the call. Not all emergency services have the facility to see where the call was made from (you would of thought it be standard but it isn't, although slowly been introduced as control systems are upgraded). If a number cannot be traced BT or Cable & Wireless will stay connected until a trace is run. This happens pretty much every time a call is made from a mobile (happened both times I have rung 999 from my mobile). Alot of the 999 systems are using old technology and only now been upgraded as the funding has been made available. Cable & Wireless and BT are the two key players for the 999 system in the UK.

Should be forced to do comunity service for a year, totally irresponsible and cruel.

I remember a case a few years ago when a similar incident did hapen, I think it was a 4yrold boy who's mother passed away in their flat. He fended for himself for about 3-4 days until he was discovered.

Rob

Worse than I remember!

Brave toddler survives alone in flat for two weeks | Mail Online