911 Dispatch problems...post them here

[rxer311]

I have read some posts now (most recently the PPD drawing guns) on somebody legally carrying and some discussion started about the inefficiency of the 911 call and dispatch. Streaker chimed in with a short story about how they screwed up a call he made about a disabled vehicle. Hopefully he will repost it here.

Anyway, here is my story. This happened about 3 years ago today and it was one of the reasons I started my progression from a non gun owner, to a gun owner, to getting my LTC and carrying on a daily basis.

3 years ago myself and my pregnant wife went for dinner at Infinito's Pizza in Lancaster. For those of you that know the area it is in a shopping center right across the street from Park City Mall...the only mall in the county that I know of.

We were eating some pizza and all of a sudden some guys a table over jump up, flip over tables, and pull out knives and start to go after each other. Their aggression was geared towards each other but the potential for harm was real.

I pulled out my cell phone and called 911.

Dispatcher: 911, whats your emergency

Me: I am at Infinito's pizza in Lancaster across the street from the Park City Mall. There are 2 men in here with knives flipping over tables and fighting. Somebody will be hurt or killed.

Dispatcher: What is the address?

Me: I do not know the address...I am a patron of the restaurant. It is the Infinito's Pizza in the Park City Mall Complex across the street from the mall.

Dispatcher: I need to know the address.

Me: I told you I don't know the address. Somebody will be seriously injured if somebody does not show up very soon.

Dispatcher: I am sorry. I can not dispatch anybody without an address/

Me: Really? SOMEBODY IS GOING TO DIE!

Dispatcher: Can you please find the address for me?

Me: I am in the back of the place and the men fighting have my exit blocked. The street number on the door looks to be _______. It is right across the street from Park City Mall!

Dispatcher: Please call back when you have an address.

Me: Hang up.........

The fight eventually broke up with really only minor scratches but the potential for injury and death was high. There were many innocent bystanders including myself and my pregnant wife that also could have been hurt by thrown tables and such.

I could not believe that a dispatcher in Lancaster County would have no clue on how to dispatch somebody to the area and any police officer in the city not know at least the area of the Mall where they could then find a restaurant across the street.

This is when I came to the realization that I alone am responsible for the safety of myself and my family. The government and police can not and WILL NOT keep me safe.

[streaker69]

^^ That is a call taker that needs retraining.

There have been many times I've called in for things without an address and haven't dealt with that. Probably the most recent one was a fight that broke out at the gas pumps at Bj's. Don't know the address there, just told them it was a fight at Bj's on Centerville road.

[Deleted]

About a month ago during one of those 95+ heat waves the dispatcher called me and let me know that a guy called 911 and asked that an officer come to his apartment and open his windows and turn on his fan for him because it was hot. The dispatcher said that he told the guy that this was not a 911 emergency and they would not send an officer over to open his windows.

I asked the dispatcher why the guy needed help with his windows and fan and the dispatcher said no one at 911 asked him. I got the guys phone number and called him. Turns out the guy was paralyzed from the neck down and does everything through a series of computers and blow straws. His caretaker forgot to turn on his air conditioner and fans before she left and it was 102 degrees in his apartment.

Needless to say we got his air and fans on for him.... i sent a complaint form up the chain of command...nothing came from it.

[rxer311]

About a month ago during one of those 95+ heat waves the dispatcher called me and let me know that a guy called 911 and asked that an officer come to his apartment and open his windows and turn on his fan for him because it was hot. The dispatcher said that he told the guy that this was not a 911 emergency and they would not send an officer over to open his windows.

I asked the dispatcher why the guy needed help with his windows and fan and the dispatcher said no one at 911 asked him. I got the guys phone number and called him. Turns out the guy was paralyzed from the neck down and does everything through a series of computers and blow straws. His caretaker forgot to turn on his air conditioner and fans before she left and it was 102 degrees in his apartment.

Needless to say we got his air and fans on for him.... i sent a complaint form up the chain of command...nothing came from it.

Wow! I am glad you came through for him! Rep sent!

[streaker69]

About a month ago during one of those 95+ heat waves the dispatcher called me and let me know that a guy called 911 and asked that an officer come to his apartment and open his windows and turn on his fan for him because it was hot. The dispatcher said that he told the guy that this was not a 911 emergency and they would not send an officer over to open his windows.

I asked the dispatcher why the guy needed help with his windows and fan and the dispatcher said no one at 911 asked him. I got the guys phone number and called him. Turns out the guy was paralyzed from the neck down and does everything through a series of computers and blow straws. His caretaker forgot to turn on his air conditioner and fans before she left and it was 102 degrees in his apartment.

Needless to say we got his air and fans on for him.... i sent a complaint form up the chain of command...nothing came from it.

I think a large part of the problem is that call takers/dispatchers have a tendency to get jaded by all the whackjobs that do call for nonsense reasons.

I dated a girl that was a call taker and was training to be a dispatcher. She used to tell me some wild stories of people calling in. The strangest was the guy that claimed a plumber had come to his mothers house and had left robotic insects around that were spying on him and his mother.

[bluehen59]

Responding to that guy who called for his windows and AC was something you figure out with experience, well done.

I was driving on 95 south, north of Baltimore around 1:00 a.m. a while ago when I noticed a car swerving through lanes and clipped the Jersey wall. I slowed to put some distance between him and I called 911. I gave the dispatcher the story, then she asked where I was. I gave her the exit number I just passed, she transferred me to Harford county. They asked me where I was, gave them the last exit, they transferred me to Baltimore county. Put on hold, then transferred again. I hung up because my exit was coming up and the guy kept going.

[VeritasAequitas]

Years ago I was in a college class and a man in front of me had a seizure and fell to the floor, knocking over desks and students. I called 911...and the dispatcher wanted the address of the university. I told her that I did not have the exact address, (but it was THE most well-known university in the city), and I gave her the building name and room number. The dispatcher kept saying that she needed the address to have anything done...at that point I hung up. EMS showed up about 15 minutes later...one of my first experiences that led me to realize that calling 911 tends to be a waste of time.

[Deanimator]

A few years ago, I was riding to the Lakewood wing cook-off with my best friend and his wife.

We were driving along Detroit Rd. when my friend's wife saw a guy stagger (or get pushed) out of one of the numerous bars, and fall face down in the gutter out front. My friend turned around and stopped to see if he could help.

While his ex-nurse wife looked at the guy, I called 911 on my cellphone. I calmly provided all of the pertinent details. I was then transfered to ANOTHER 911 operator for whom I had to repeat everything I'd just told the first operator.

When I told her, "He's lying in the gutter, unresponsive." she asked me, "He's on the roof?" That left me speechless for a moment. I replied, "NO, he's in the gutter in the STREET." "You mean the storm drain?" I was tempted to reply, "Yes, he was dragged into the sewers by giant radioactive ants! Send the Marines!"

Kelly Bundy seemed far more interested in verifying MY identity than in the guy's condition.

Of course having grown up in Chicago, I had long since been disabused of any fantasies about being "protected" by 911 or the police.

[MARINE DIVISION TWO]

You really have to wonder if all responding agencys have frequent traing up-dates,response needs with out trying to down play the urgency of all calls.

[ItchyTick]

I don't trust those dispatchers either. Last week I received only 9 tacos in my party pack that should have had 12.

I called the cops on Taco Bell, but they wouldn't take me seriously.

I was also shorted on hot sauce.