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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI thought calling 9/11 was only for emergencies??
this is one big thing about the Starbucks incident that bugs me and I have not seen addressed by the media or anywhere else. Why in the heck did the 9/11 operator consider the situation an emergency to begin with? Normally the 9/11 operator would tell you such an incident is not an emergency, that you should hang up and call your local police station non-emergency number. The 9/11 operator ought to be fired.
Just a couple months ago I called 9/11 because there were people down the street from where I live setting off aerial fireworks during Chinese New Year in Washington. The kind that explode hundreds of feet in the air and are illegal to set off without a license and also illegal to set off anywhere near a residential neighborhood due to fire risks. Each explosion sounded like a large bomb going off, and they were setting them off every 5 minutes late into the night.
I got sick of it and called 9/11 because it was keeping me awake all night. The operator informed me that it was not an emergency and told me to call my local police station non-emergency number. So people setting off dangerous illegal fireworks is not a 9/11 emergency but two black men sitting in a Starbucks minding their business IS?? Absolutely ridiculous!
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pnwmom
(108,978 posts)decide how to route the calls.
And in this case, the "trespassing" or "disturbance" would be considered a crime in progress, which is supposed to be reported on 911.
http://chinatown-pcdc.org/what-is-the-difference-between-911-and-311/
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)I wanted to see if I could borrow one of those drug sniffing dogs from my local police last week for, like, maybe 15 minutes or so, and when I called the administrative number, they referred me to 911.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)Depends on the location.
In the beginning, 9/11 technology wasn't up to the task of taking all calls. That was a long time ago. But at that time, designating it for emergencies only allowed the technology to not be overwhelmed. Nowadays, its quite capable of handing the load.
In the last town I lived in, if you called the police department directly for something routine, they would direct you to hang up and call 9/11
It's entirely location dependent.
gyroscope
(1,443 posts)9-1-1,[1][2] also written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency numbers around the world, this number is intended for use in emergency circumstances only, and using it for any other purpose (such as making false or prank calls) is a crime in certain jurisdictions.
In over 98% of locations in the United States and Canada, dialing "9-1-1" from any telephone will link the caller to an emergency dispatch office—called a public-safety answering point (PSAP) by the telecom industry—which can send emergency responders to the caller's location in an emergency. In approximately 96 percent of the U.S., the enhanced 9-1-1 system automatically pairs caller numbers with a physical address.[1] You would think the police would make better use of their time and resources dealing with actual emergencies and not send a whole squad of cops to Starbucks for nothing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9-1-1
Perhaps in some very rural or remote areas with low population density 911 could be used for non-emergency calls, but in a major densely populated metro area like Philadelphia 911 is supposed to be reserved for critical emergency situations, or else the system would be constantly busy and jammed up all the time with stupid crap like two black men sitting in a Starbucks who are a threat to no one. And actual life or death emergency calls would not be able to get through.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)But I didn't really see a point in arguing with the cops over how to call them.
shrug.
But believe me. A 5ESS switch can handle a big call load. This is 1970 anymore. Nanp for that matter was designed in the 40's.
gyroscope
(1,443 posts)the 911 operators will send a whole squad of police officers to deal with a totally non-emergency, completely non life threatening situation. you would think cops in a major metropolitan area would have more important things to do then serve as security guards for Starbucks. What are we paying them for to waste their time on such stupid nonsense?
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)they have a whole range of duties and they triage them according to how busy they are.
Some departments are better at this than others, and some have more resources than others.
uponit7771
(90,339 posts)
tblue37
(65,357 posts)
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,328 posts)You can call 311 to find out what Police District and beat you live in, as well as the date, time and location of your next beat meeting. Also calling 311 allows you easy access to non-emergency police services, from filing police reports to talking to police personnel in your district. You should call 311 if the incident that you are reporting has occurred and the offender is gone from the scene. You should call 911 if the incident you are reporting is in progress and the on-site presence of a police officer is necessary to help resolve the matter (e.g., burglary in progress, incident involving injuries, quieting loud neighbors, etc.).
https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/311/supp_info/faq.html
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)Now we’re on to the 911 operators. They NEED to be fired too.
This board loves to fire people.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)One was a terrorist attack in NYC on 9/11.
The other is the emergency phone number 911.
Don't get them confused when/if you need cops/fire/EMTs
madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)
