Greetings everybody! Happy late summer to one and all! What a beautiful time of the year – harvest time, football season, many of my favorite things. Today, however, I want to bring a much more serious topic to Copcorner.net than life’s good stuff. Today, I have a gripe. No, a big gripe. I apologize for being very blunt in this article but the topic demands it.
Did you happen to see the news article on MSNBC.Com dated August 5th, 2008? If you did, it had to shock you. It is entitled “911 System Choking on Non-Emergency Calls”. If you haven’t read it, please go there and do so. Sorry to say it did not shock me because I have worked for two years in our Communications Section and I am painfully familiar with this flavor of stupidity. Within the first few hours of working the phones, it is obvious that there is an element in society that is flat out lazy minded, refuses to use their brain or exercise a modicum of common sense when contacting public safety services. I have nothing but the highest comtempt for these types of people.
Most everyday folks will never have occasion to call for emergency services. Their lives are rarely touched by tragedy, criminality or a need for help by public emergency services. Also, most people are adept enough to react correctly to emergency situations and take appropriate action at the appropriate time. Let me take the time here to congratulate that portion of society for being those “who get it”!
However, it greatly disgusts me to say that there is a sizeable percentage who just “do not get it”, for whatever reason. The following is addressed to you. Clue in. The 9-1-1 rules are simple: the 9-1-1 emergency lines are for LIFE AND DEATH EMERGENCIES ONLY. Get it? Now, what does that mean? Again, clue in. That means: HEALTH EMERGENCIES (such as HEART ATTACKS, STROKES, FALLING OFF OF THE ROOF, CUTTING YOURSELF SEVERLY AND BLEEDING ALL OVER YOUR HOUSE, GETTING BITTEN BY A VICIOUS DOG), ANY INCIDENT WHERE LOSS OF LIFE COULD RESULT AND TIME IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. Got those? Also, TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS INVOLVING INJURIES, A PEDESTRIAN GETTING RUN OVER BY A VEHICLE, A MOTORCYCLIST OR BICYCLIST GETTING HIT, ok? Got those? It also includes crimes against persons, such as ROBBERY (taking property from a person using force or fear), RAPE, ANY SEXUAL ASSAULT, KIDNAPPING, BURGLARY (where the structure could be occupied and the person inside could be assaulted or worse). Got those? I sure hope so…
Now, for what the 9-1-1 line does NOT include. Again, clue in. It DOES NOT include calling the police because your child will not obey and go off to school in the morning, or any type of civil dispute (all things non-criminal) such as Subway not putting enough pickles on your turkey sandwich (and that pisses you off!), an angry exchange of words between motorists because one of you was driving with a certain part of your body shoved up inside of another certain part of the same body, a simple request for information such as some program offered by your public service agencies, or a request for the business phone number for those same agencies. Or you’re calling because you lost your cell phone and don’t know what to do next. Get it? Or maybe a neighbor from down the street has parked his car in front of your house (which is legal on a public street, which everyone owns by the way!) and that steams you. Or how about the now infamous mega-idiot soccer mom from Mission Viejo, Ca., who went through a fast food drive through, obtained her order but was dissatisfied with something and called 9-1-1, demanding that an Orange County Deputy Sheriff respond immediately and refusing to move her SUV (well, of course!) in the meantime, thus disrupting the normal conduct of business at that location (see U-Tube). Do you doubt that those things actually happened? If so, shame on you! These are real life incidents and there are millions more of a similar nature.
Well, as always, here at Copcorner.net I ask you the question: What do you think? You’ve seen me use this expression before: I wish I had a dime for each time someone called 9-1-1 and began the conversation with “This really isn’t an emergency but…” Then, why did you dial 9-1-1 in the first place, moron? Weren’t you paying attention when somebody explained to you that to find everyday phone numbers you dial 4-1-1 (directory assistance), or for phone repair service you dial 6-1-1? What don’t you get about this? Do you know that things called phone books still exist, with listings for city, county, state and federal governmental agencies, all with their non-emergency business numbers properly listed? Do you know about on-line phone directories also? Sheesh, beyond that I can’t help you.
It’s sad to say that the MSNBC article pointed out that at some agencies, the percentage of frivilous and inappropriate calls make up close to 80% of the typical daily call volume. Imagine that! At my agency, that figure is at least 50-60 percent on any given day. How would you feel if you or a loved one truly needed an open 9-1-1 line to summon help and one of these professional idiots had it tied up for no good reason? The answer to that is painfully obvious.
Finally, did you know that all emergency communications are recorded and saved for a length of time? Did you know that the phone numbers, addresses and names of residents are displayed on a screen and also recorded? Did you know that cell phone numbers are too, and that under some circumstances the location of that phone can be tracked down using GPS? That is all true. So, if you are planning on being a 9-1-1 prankster, or thought about having fun on the emergency lines, think again. The police will be there soon and you could very well be prosecuted for your bad judgment.
Do you think this only happens in the U.S.? Think again, my friends. In February, 2007, I was visiting friends in the capital city of a major Latin American country with a population of close to 20 million. As is my custom, I was reading their local newspaper at the breakfast table. I hadn’t seen the article yet, but my friend pointed it out and asked me if we have the same problem here. What was the article about? It described the over three million non-emergency phone calls choking their 9-1-1 system for the year 2006. Imagine that.
For someone sitting around the house without enough to do (or a website to develop!) try calling major metro police departments around the world (please use their business lines!) and see if the story is the same. I know what I would expect, how about you?
Bottom line here folks, I truly hope that I’m preaching to the choir here at Copcorner.net. I hope my readers have had a good chuckle and maybe just gotten a subtle reminder to avoid being part of this daily problem for emergency services. I fervently hope that my readers are folks who “get it”. But if there are a few who are learning about this for the first time, well, that’s how it is. Try to put more mental effort into your next emergency or non-emergency contact in the future and pass the word that Copcorner.net is where you got the straight scoop. If in reading this rant, you properly utilize the 9-1-1 system in the future, then my work here is done…
Thanks for being here, my friends, and all the best until next time!
Tim
One Response to “Stop the 9-1-1 Abuse, Please!!!”
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Not that it’s an excuse (far from it), but I think a lot of people misuse 911 — and ambulance rides, too — because it’s perceived as free. Of course, tax dollars pay for 911 call centers and operators, etc., but there’s no extra cost for the individual calling 911 — thus, they don’t feel like it hurts them personally to use the number frivolously.
Phone companies and carriers are charging about $2 per 411 call now, but if people knew they could get directory assistance for free with 1-800-FREE411, they perhaps wouldn’t abuse 911 so readily.