1st mystery of 9-1-1: Why are you whispering?? Odds are very good “they” couldn’t hear you if you were screaming, and they’re probably too busy fighting with each other to notice you’ve left the room. When I ask you to speak up, that doesn’t mean “speak even quieter!” You called for help, but you’re on your cell phone, the signal is crappy, and they’re not designed to compensate for low voice levels. You’re already in the same house, they’re going to know who called when the police show up, so whispering really doesn’t do anything to insure “they don’t know” you’re calling! I can’t help you if I can’t hear you! There’s no address information from a cell phone, and the location technology isn’t reliable. Oh, I might know where you are, within a 1/2 mile or so, but if there’s anyone else there, or you’re in, say, an apartment complex… well, you could be SOL. Speak up!
2nd mystery of 9-1-1: I understand you being upset that the neighbor’s music is loud, even inside your house. I understand that you “can’t hear your own television” over the noise. What I don’t understand is why you ask me “not to put it out over the radio, because they have a scanner”. If YOU can’t hear YOUR television over the noise, how in the heck are THEY going to hear the scanner?? So, yes, the call is going out over the radio. If they have a scanner that can outmuscle that powerful of a stereo, I WANT ONE! And secondly, if they do manage to hear the scanner, and turn down the music before we get there, then your problem has been solved! Either way, you win!
JimmieJoe / KC6YRU 
The Thursday From Hell
July 31, 2010
Jim Reeves 9-1-1, commentary, Personal 9-1-1, 911, dispatcher stories, night from hell, thursday from hell 1 Comment
A busy night in dispatch last Thursday. Sometimes it’s slow, sometimes it’s busy, and some nights it’s just crazy batshit nuts. Thursday was the lattermost.
A murder always sends us into a frenzy. First, the 9-1-1 calls start flooding in, everybody within blocks grabs a cell phone and dials. Most of them have no clue what happened, or where they are, they just scream at us to get the cops there, and why are we asking all these dumb questions?? And EVERY call has to be answered and checked, because we never know when the most important bit of information will come in, or from where. And in the middle of the chaos, we still have to deal with the normal traffic load, because that doesn’t stop just because someone got shot! There could be someone else needing an ambulance, or their house could be on fire, or their baby could be choking. It all has to be handled, right now, and correctly.
Even when…
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