By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — A local resident allegedly called authorities about an accident with an injury that didn’t exist during a snowstorm last month, and Chief Jeff Burnham said that this “red herring” can cause major disruption in their services when resources are already stretched thin.
Cynthia Morancy, 57, of Springfield, Vermont, was issued a citation to appear in Vermont Superior Court Criminal Division, Windsor Unit on April 8 at 8:30 a.m. to answer to the charge of falsifying reports to agencies of public safety.
Chief Jeff Burnham said all calls for service are taken as factual until they know otherwise, and in a snowstorm, they are already thin on staff. Burnham said they are making hirings, with one coming just next month and another going through police academy, but right now they are stretching their resources as far as possible.
“When we have to go chase what is otherwise known as a red herring, you literally take our services away unnecessarily,” Burnham said. “That’s why they opted to choose and follow through with the charge of a false report.”
The Springfield Police Department reported that on Feb. 16 at 5:09 p.m., Officer Adam Woodell and Officer Gabriel Freeman, as well as an ambulance from the Springfield Fire Department, responded to a report of a motor vehicle accident with injury in front of Shaw’s Supermarket. The officials rushed to the scene with their emergency lights on and sirens sounding, but upon arrival it was determined that there was no crash or injury at all.
“A short investigation led to officers learning that the defendant had caused an emergency call to be made to the Springfield Police Department dispatch center in order to elicit an immediate response to a non-emergency,” the report stated.
When speaking to Morancy, police say that her story did not remain consistent. She allegedly drastically changed the narrative of the severity, and the type of problem that she felt warranted a call.
“The nature of the non-emergency changed several times during the investigation,” the report stated. “It ranged from a past-tense medical problem, a motor vehicle not believed to exist being out of gas, to a broken windshield wiper.”
Springfield police and fire personnel were as busy as could be at this time, as the snowy and icy conditions from a multi-day storm were causing vehicles to slide off the road.
“We have tractor trailer units getting stuck on the hills in town, and sometimes we have to go up the highway because there are so many cars off the road that the state police don’t have enough people,” Burnham said. “So, taking us out for a false report is frustrating. We want to make sure it is addressed so this doesn’t happen often.”
Burnham said this is not a common occurrence, but his department does go to incidents that are deemed unfounded but not with intent. This could be due people going through mental health issues where they “think things are there but are not.” However, in other cases, he wanted to make it clear to the public of how serious these false calls are.
“We want people to know this isn’t a joke,” Burnham said. “This isn’t fun. We have things to do and you are taking us away from it.
According to 13 V.S.A. § 1751 posted on the Vermont legislature website, “a person who willfully or knowingly gives, or aids or abets in giving, by any means any false alarm of fire or other emergency to be transmitted to or within any organization, official or volunteer, for dealing with emergencies involving danger to life or property shall be imprisoned for not more than one year or fined not more than $1,000.00, or both.”
