Eyewitness News learned several emergency call boxes along the Monon Trail and White River Parkway aren't working.

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - They're supposed to keep you safe, but what happens when they don't work?

We're talking about those emergency call boxes you see along some trails including the Monon Trail and White River Parkway. They're a direct link to 911 in the event of an emergency, but Eyewitness News has discovered several aren't working.

At least three of the six the city maintains on the trail along White River Parkway have signs saying they're "temporarily out of order."

Several people passing by were surprised when it was pointed out to them. But you may not notice until you actually needed one. Indy Parks also has five call boxes on the Monon, all but one south of 38th Street. At last check, two were out of service, two that are in a remote, less-traveled area.

Brett Canady, who runs the Monon often, said he was "a little surprised they're not working but guess run at your own risk."

Indy Parks spokesperson Ronnetta Spalding said the parks department is "aware some are not working" and does "weekly checks" to see which boxes, if any, need to be fixed.

Spalding said the boxes along the White River are at least 10 years old and some on the Monon were installed in the late 1990s.



"So we have frequent times when they break down, whether it's the weather, someone tampering with them or something else," she said.



And she said because the boxes are older, "sometimes it's difficult to get the parts or people who work with them."

She also noted that many people now carry cell phones even when running or biking, which wasn't necessarily the case when the boxes first went in some 20 years ago.

Kelsie Labbens, who rides the Monon often, said she almost always has her cell phone with her, "but a couple of times it's fallen" off her bike.

She said her first reaction should someone threaten her would be to "get the cell phone, but most people have a thumbprint or have to put in a password...and if it's in the middle of an attack...that's the first thing they're going to take. I think more (call boxes) would be great and working ones."

Carl Ennis, who rides downtown from Carmel, said the boxes "should be around. It's a safety measure. It should give people using the trail some kind of comfort if they need to use them."

Dana Spence and Stacy Houston, also trail regulars, said they ride by the boxes all the time and just assumed the boxes worked, but Spence also said, "most people have cell phones these days."

Asked if they should be replaced or even discontinued, Houston said, "I guess it depends on how much (money) it might take from other things, maybe it's not a required thing, but it's nice thing to have."

Spence agreed, "if you have to spend a lot of money on it, there are many things that have more need than that."