No Charges Will Be Filed Against Princeton Official for Unfounded 911 Call

Princeton Councilwoman Jo Butler will not be criminally charged for placing an unfounded 9-1-1 call to police, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday. 

"The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has concluded its investigation into the 911 call made by Princeton Councilwoman Jo Butler on September 18, 2013," MCPO Spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said on Wednesday. " No charges will be filed in the matter.  At our discretion, it was deemed appropriate to issue Ms. Butler a warning, which is not uncommon for a first time infraction of this nature."

Asked if the Prosecutor's Office condones calls to 9-1-1 with no apparent emergency, DeBlasio's response was "No."

In a story first reported by Princeton Patch, multiple sources confirmed that Butler made the 9-1-1 call from the Dinky station on Sept. 18 and when an operator answered the emergency call, Butler asked the dispatcher where she was calling: Princeton University's Department of Public Safety or Princeton Police? 

She hung up after the operator ignored her question and tried to ascertain the nature of the emergency. 

When the 9-1-1 operator called the woman Butler back, Butler allegedly declared that she was "an elected official." 

She did not describe an emergency.

According to the New Jersey Criminal Code, N.J.S.A. 2C:33-3 e, "a person is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree if the person knowingly places a call to a 911 emergency telephone system without purpose of reporting the need for 911 service." It is considered a fourth-degree indictable crime in New Jersey.

The call was reported up Princeton's internal administrative chain of command, then forwarded to the Prosecutor's Office, which confirmed they opened an investigation into Butler's actions. 

Butler, a former member of the Borough's public safety committee, has long been concerned about where 9-1-1 calls are routed from the Princeton University campus. In February, a report from nj.com reported that 9-1-1 calls from land lines on campus and University-owned buildings off campus were routed to the University's Department of Public Safety, while calls from cell phones were routed to Princeton Police dispatchers. 

At the time, some public officials, including Butler, expressed concern about possible delays or miscommunication in routing more serious incidents from the University to local police. There could even be cases where they said University may want to sweep certain incidents under the rug, according to nj.com.

Since then, the University and Princeton Police Departments have come to an agreement in May, outlining which department would reply to what types of incident. Specific details were not released. 

On Sept. 18, Butler's call was routed to a dispatcher in the Princeton Police Department. 

When the investigation became public, Butler said she welcomed the scrutiny into her actions. 

She did not return a call for comment on Wednesday.