Tagged: Curt Barker

Nearly two months after receiving a hoax 911 call, Macomb police released a recording of the call. Police made the audio available in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed last week by Tri States Public Radio.

The recording lasts less than two minutes.  In it, the caller asks the 911 dispatcher to send a squad car to 509 Murray. “This guy has a gun on us. He says we can’t leave.”

It cost a pretty penny for police to respond to what proved to be a hoax 911 call in Macomb on March 6.

Bills submitted to the McDonough County State’s Attorney’s office show Illinois State Police spent $7,868.41, which includes the cost of a tactical response team. Macomb police submitted a bill of $2,406.55, and the Office of Public Safety at Western Illinois University submitted a bill of $1,384.56.

That adds up to a total of $11,659.52, and the figure will rise once the McDonough County Sheriff’s Department submits its bill.

Macomb police surrounded a home for five hours Wednesday evening, believing someone might be barricaded inside. But it turned out they were sent to the home on a prank call.

The 911 center received the call from 509 West Murray around 6:00 pm. Police Chief Curt Barker said the caller was a woman.

Police officers in Illinois could soon be better trained to help military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

A new law (HB 5587) requires a training program on the disorder be conducted by the Illinois State Police Academy and the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board.