Fake police call leads to arrest

On Oct. 1 as Flomaton police were conducting an investigation in the Holt Subdivision, police were pulled off the investigation to respond to a 'shots fired' call at the other end of town that eventually led to the arrest of a Flomaton man for making a false report to law enforcement and obstructing a government operation.

Shane Johnson, 35, was arrested on the misdemeanor charges at 125 Sue St.

Flomaton Police Chief Chance Thompson said due to the priority of the 'shots fired' call, others left the Holt Subdivision to respond, only to find out no shots had been fired.

Thompson said the 'shots fired' call was made to pull officers off the investigation at the Holt Subdivision and an investigation began.

Thompson said that although the call to the police department was blocked from Caller ID, the investigation led to Johnson having made the call.

"Johnson had been contacted to call a fake call into our department to hinder the investigation," Thompson said.

Thompson said the police department takes false calls seriously and those caught will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

"A shots fired call is a high-priority call and officers may be using emergency equipment to get to these calls," Thompson said. "Although our officers use due regard of the public's safety to get to their destination, it's still dangerous."

Thompson also said there are expenses associated with police responding the false calls such as gasoline and the salary times of officers and dispatchers, followed by the time and cost of an investigation to determine who made the false call.

Thompson also said if someone had a real emergency, police don't need to be spending time running down false calls.