JimmieJoe / KC6YRU

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” (just before midnight)

“My  chicken got loose and it’s in my neighbor’s back yard. Can I go back there and get it?  Nobody’s answering the door.”

I convinced him it would be a bad idea to go into his neighbor’s back yard at midnight, trying to capture his chicken.  He claimed it was his livelihood, but I’m figuring it’s not some remarkable stud animal.  I told him I’d send a deputy to speak to him about his options (I was glad I wouldn’t be the one actually dispatching the call….  “see the man about a chicken”), but he declined, as he said he’d been drinking a fair amount, and didn’t want to speak to a cop.

A few minutes later, the neighbor calls 9-1-1, reporting a strange man beating on his front door, looking for a chicken!

By the time we did dispatch a deputy to check the area, the man out looking for his unleashed cock had gone home, the neighbor went back to bed, and I have no idea what happened to the bird.

Another night in the life of a 9-1-1 dispatch center in the heart of ag country.

“9-1-1, what’s YOUR emergency?? “