Hello Everyone,
Evelyn Here,
On Tuesday August 22, 2006 and exactly at 2:22 PM, I received a call that logged into the missed calls area of my cell phone. It was entered as coming from the Mayor’s Action Center. For many of us who live here in Saint Petersburg, we know that the Mayor Action Center number is a common and multi-departmental number for frequently called departments within city and county. Some of these departments are Fire Department, Waste Management, Sanitation and the perhaps the most called department of all, Saint Petersburg Police Headquarter.
What this means to us is that although each department has its own direct number, they are also links to the Mayor Action Center number. This number is often viewed when one of these departments return a call to us. This also means that unless someone from one of those departments calls us from their direct departmental line, you have no idea where that person is or who person is that placed the cal to you. Again, you only know that the number on your caller ID registered as coming from the Mayor Action Center.
Why do I bring this up? A few years back a person and/or persons used the Mayor Action Center number to harass me. That person or persons who used the number knew that I could not trace their calls, and that I was going on their word that they where who they representedthemselves to be.
Generally, when call comes in from the police department it will register with the Mayor Action Center number. A few years back, I was frequently going to court on a matter that still involves a couple of families on this avenue. Because of this, I have to talk with various police officers.
It was during this period that problems arose with the Mayor Action Center number. Sometimes there appeared to be no one the line. The person would say something rude or the number would be listed when I returned from attending an errand, but no one from the police department could tell me where the calls came from nor who made them.
However, I became even more concerned when I received a couple of calls registered with the Mayor Action Center number and the person on would identify himself as a police officer who begin questioning me about matters that I had already shared with the an officer on my original report.
The second time this happened I became suspicious and questioned the caller. I asked his name, his badge number and his direct police line so that I call him back and verify that he and his called was genuine. I never got the information, so I ended the call. From that time on, I have not accepted calls showing the Mayor Action Center number, unless I am expecting the call, and that I am aware of who the person who is going to call me. I may still request a direct number and call the person back.
Tuesday, I was not expecting a caller Mayor Action Center number, and I know whom I trust within the police department and gave my cell phone number. This call I was not expecting, and I received no return call from that day, but I did restated that I was not receiving calls registering that number without caller the call name and number to verify.
We hear all the time about home invasion by people pretending to be police officers. We also hear a lot about drivers pretending to police officers. Now I am adding people who misuse the Mayor Action Center number because it is untraceable and has been to my past distressed a tool used to mislead, harass, and intimidate a victim of crime. Do I have some idea what group of people may have talked someone into making the call to harass? Yes, because they did it in the past.
Could one of these unscrupulous people have gotten my cell phone number and had me called on Tuesday? Yes indeed. However, I missed the call, and since I have not any experienced harm, nor I received another call, I consider this incident as a “wrong number”.
Nevertheless, I have written this because I lived through this type of harassment once before, and I will not live it again. In addition, I do not want anyone else to live it.
Evelyn Out.
