STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER DEBORAH TAYLOR TATE
Re:  Petition for a Notice of Inquiry Regarding 911 Call-Forwarding Requirements and Carriers’ 
Blocking Options for Non-Initialized Phones, PS Docket No. 08-51.
Often the easiest course of action for government officials is to merely ignore a problem.  
In this case, nine public safety organizations and a software development firm – including public 
safety officials in the States of Tennessee, Michigan, New Jersey, Montana and Washington –
provided research, data and analysis of the problem.  They now seek our help in actually 
resolving an issue of concern to all citizens who need a robust, reliable public safety 
communications network.
The data from several states reveal alarming statistics.  In my home state of Tennessee, 
there were more than 10,000 fraudulent 911 calls from non-service initialized devices in a three-
month period in 2006.  In short, these huge numbers of fraudulent calls distract our nation’s 
public safety officials, which in turn makes it that much more difficult for these public servants to 
fulfill their life-saving mission. 
I applaud the efforts of the Joint Petitioners in raising this issue and hope that today’s Notice of 
Inquiry can launch a nationwide dialogue to help address the problem