Should domestic abuse victims call 911 and order pepperoni pizza? Fact Check

Social media messages claim that domestic abuse victims can make covert phone calls to the police by pretending to order a pepperoni pizza.

An example from 2017 can be seen below –

IF YOU NEED TO CALL 911 BUT ARE SCARED TO BECAUSE OF SOMEONE IN THE ROOM, dial and ask for a pepperoni pizza. They will ask if you know you’re calling 999. Say yes, and continue pretending you’re making an order. They’ll ask if there’s someone in the room. You can ask how long it will take for the pizza to get to you, and they will tell you how far away a patrol unit is. Share this to save a life!!! Dispatchers are trained to ask specific yes or no questions..dont hang up!

This legend appeared to have been kick-started from the micro-blogging website Reddit, when, in 2014, user Crux1836 – later identified by Buzzfeed as Keith Weisinger – posted the following tale in a Reddit asking 911 operators for their most unforgettable calls –

I had a call that started out pretty dumb, but was actually pretty serious:
“911, where is you emergency?”
“123 Main St.”
“Ok, what’s going on there?”
“I’d like to order a pizza for delivery.” (oh great, another prank call).
“Ma’am, you’ve reached 911”
“Yeah, I know. Can I have a large with half pepperoni, half mushroom and peppers?”
“Ummm… I’m sorry, you know you’ve called 911 right?”
“Yeah, do you know how long it will be?”
“Ok, Ma’am, is everything ok over there? do you have an emergency?”
“Yes, I do.”
“… And you can’t talk about it because there’s someone in the room with you?” (moment of realization)
“Yes, that’s correct. Do you know how long it will be?”
“I have an officer about a mile from your location. Are there any weapons in your house?”
“Nope.”
“Can you stay on the phone with me?”
“Nope. See you soon, thanks”
As we dispatch the call, I check the history at the address, and see there are multiple previous domestic violence calls. The officer arrives and finds a couple, female was kind of banged up, and boyfriend was drunk. Officer arrests him after she explains that the boyfriend had been beating her for a while. I thought she was pretty clever to use that trick. Definitely one of the most memorable calls.

A few months later the tale was given much mainstream media attention (as well as appearing in many “clickbait” type websites) and by Weisinger’s own admission when interviewed by Buzzfeed News, the tale dates back to a decade earlier, around 2005. The story was one of a handful of similar stories from elsewhere on the Internet where 911 operators were presented with seemingly-bizarre calls from domestic abuse victims “ordering pizza” that turned out to be a covert way of asking for help. The tale was even the inspiration to an advert on domestic abuse.

Sponsored Content. Continued below...

However the circulating message that implies “dispatchers are trained” to recognise this apparently universal way of alerting police to a domestic abuse incident is problematic. For one, fake ordering a pizza isn’t some sort of universal “secret code” for reporting domestic abuse, from what we can determine.

Of course, 9/11 dispatchers are trained to recognise potentially dangerous or volatile situations over the phone, and will be acutely aware that the people they speak to over the phone may not be able to discuss their situation freely. As such, using the “pepperoni pizza” code could potentially work simply because the operator may have heard of it this tale before, or because the operator was able to deduce from the specifics of a particular phone call that the caller could be in danger.

But this is by no means a certainty; emergency operators also have to deal with a plethora of mis-dialed numbers, “pocket” dials and prank phone calls, and since ordering a pepperoni pizza doesn’t appear to be a universally signed-off way of seeking help, it’s possible an operator may not identify the covert plea for help, which as a result may inadvertently become lost in translation. In fact certain police departments – including the Albany Police Department in New York – have explicitly stated that such a tactic is likely to confuse operators and be unsuccessful.

Sponsored Content. Continued below...

Additionally, just like the similar “Black Dot Campaign” that had also spread between social media users during 2015 (which offered a way for domestic abuse victims to covertly ask for help by drawing a black dot onto the palm of their hand) this ‘pepperoni pizza 911 phone call’ option suffers from the same logical flaw in that it would inevitably become a victim of its own success. By that, we mean if it did become a prolific and universally recognised way of covertly requesting help, the abuser would also become aware of it, and as such the method would no longer be covert (which is the point) and could potentially make a volatile situation that much worse.

According to Weisinger’s account, the victim successfully alerted him to her abuser using this method. However there is no guarantee that will work every single time or in every single country.