Ex-911 operator Crenshanda Williams, charged with hanging up on citizens calling in emergencies from robberies to homicides, was sentenced to 10 days in jail and will serve 18 months on probation.
Williams, 44, worked at the Houston Emergency Center until she was fired in August 2016 after she was accused of hanging up on callers.
A jury on Wednesday found Williams guilty of misdemeanor interference with emergency telephone calls, KTRK-TV reported.
The Harris County district attorney's office said Williams had worked as a 911 operator for 1½ years, KPRC-TV reported.
"The citizens of Harris County rely on 911 operators to dispatch help in their time of need," said assistant district attorney Lauren Reeder, per KTRK-TV. "When a public servant betrays the community's trust and breaks the law, we have a responsibility to hold them criminally accountable."
The Houston Emergency Center targeted Williams after performing routine monthly audits of 911 calls and noticing a high volume of Williams' calls lasted less than 20 seconds, known as "short calls," the Chronicle said.
Prosecutors charged that Williams hung up on "thousands" of short calls after reviewing records from the center. The investigation found recordings of short calls, from reports of robberies to homicides to speeding vehicles, that were connected with Williams hanging up on the caller, per KPRC-TV.
Williams' attorney Franklin Bynum blamed "systemic" problems at the Houston Emergency Center that included a call-taking system that drops calls instead of rerouting them if dispatchers are not ready to take them, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Bynum also said he expected the case to be appealed based on the statute prosecutors used to charge Williams.
"She was going through a hard time in her life, and she was a poor performing worker at the Houston Emergency Center," Bynum said, per the Chronicle. "But punishing her doesn't do anything to fix the problems that still exist at the emergency center."
The center, which consolidates 911 calls for the police, fire, and emergency management services in the Houston area, the nation's fourth largest city, handles millions of calls annually and about 9,000 a day, per the Chronicle.
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