Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 14, 1995                   TAG: 9509140035
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RAY REED
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CALL TRACE HELPS CATCH VIOLATORS

Recently our child received a threatening call. Call Trace flagged this caller's number in Bell Atlantic records and can help prosecute such violators.

Disturbed people are able to obtain children's names and phone numbers in many ways. If I can help one child and family by doing this, I have done my job as a mother and citizen.

A reader

A: Don't hesitate.

If an obscene or threatening phone call comes in, hang up for about 20 seconds.

Then pick up the phone, punch *57, hang up again and call 911.

Don't waste time debating whether to report it.

These calls happen too often to too many victims. People may brush off threats and obscenities or assume nothing will be done about them.

The fact is, police need lots of reports before they can zero in on a practiced but disturbed caller. Your report will get attention, and it helps if you immediately write down the exact time and date of the call.

Several police departments in the Roanoke Valley think a number of residents have been called by the same person. Specific information about any such call is useful.

Don't wait before punching *57. If another call is received in the meantime, the threatening call can't be flagged.

If a rotary-dial phone is involved, Call Trace can be accessed by dialing 1157.

A couple of other phone services may be useful in dealing with calls that aren't threatening but are annoying nevertheless.

Punching *69 immediately will call back the source of your last incoming call. It also gives you a recording of the number, a Bell Atlantic spokesman said.

There's a 75-cent charge for each use of *69, known as Return Call, so it's not a toy to be abused.

An optional service, called Call Block, will prevent your phone from ringing if a call comes in from a number you've chosen to block. This feature costs $4 a month unless it's purchased in a package with other optional services. Call Block is *60, and it can give you the number of your last incoming call before you block it, a Bell Atlantic spokesman said.

Call Trace, or *57, should be used only for calls you intend to prosecute in court. Police will visit and take your report and ask you to sign a form allowing them to obtain the call record from the telephone company.

More information about these phone features are in the Bell Atlantic phone book for the Roanoke Valley. Page 25 tells how to respond to obscene or threatening calls. Pages 28 and 29 explain the phone features that can assist in call screening. Page 32 explains how to use them.

In Radford and Montgomery counties, the phone book's corresponding page numbers are 27, 30-32 and 33-37.

Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.