Annoying or Harassing Telephone Calls

Massachusetts General Law Chapter 269 section 14A makes it a crime to place annoying, obscene, or harassing telephone calls.  The law requires that at least three telephone calls be made to the victim or the victim’s family and the callers language was obscene, or the caller’s sole purpose was to harass, or molest the victim or the victim’s family. 
 
If you receive annoying or harassing phone calls, hang up. 
Do not entertain the caller. 
Immediately dial *57.  This will record the originating telephone number of the call with Verizon. 
This is recorded even if the number is blocked or non-published. 

Follow this procedure after each call that you receive.  Dialing *69 may provide you with the originating telephone number immediately.  If the originating telephone number is non-published or blocked *69 will not provide you with the number. 

Immediately after dialing *57, call the Police Department and report the call or calls.  Inform the dispatcher of the nature of the call.  Be as specific as you can about what the caller said to you.  This will assist the dispatcher in assessing whether the call was a threatening or an annoying/harassing call. 
The dispatcher will notify a Police Officer.  The Police Officer may come to your house or call you back on the telephone to take a report, depending on the nature of the calls that you have received.  The Officer that responds to your call will take a report of the call and instruct you to contact the Unlawful Call Center of the phone company.

You can contact the Unlawful Call Center at (800) 518-5507.  The Unlawful Call Center is the investigative division of Verizon.  It is not a division of the Hanson Police Department.  The information recorded when you dial *57 is recorded with the Unlawful Call Center.  This information will be sent to the Police Department when you have reported the calls to the Unlawful Center.  Be aware that there can be a delay of several days or even a few weeks before the information is received by the Police Department.   

To visit the Unlawful Call Center on the Web click on the link below.