On hold with 911

[zoglog]

Thursday night I was leaving work and getting ready to merge on to 465 north from US40 eastbound. For those of you that do not live near Indy there is a ton of construction in this area and the ramp is a little tricky. It is at a sharp incline up followed by a 90 degree turn and then a wide bending turn to merge on to 465. I love to drive fast but have learned that this is a very dangerous area especially at night when there are no lights.
Well some crazy woman driver (not all of them are crazy) drove off the road and dropped about 30 feet into the ditch (she was okay, I saw her get out of the vehicle). By the time I realized what was going on I was on 465 and could not stop. So I did the next best thing and called 911.
I GOT A RECORDING!!!!
"Hi, you've reached 911, if you are in immediate danger put down the phone and get to a safe location, or if you can take the phone with you, do so and find a safe location. If you are not in immediate danger stay on the line and someone will be with you shortly. This message will now be replayed in Spanish and in Tones for the hearing impaired."
I was in complete shock. The message started playing in Spanish and was then FINALLY answered by an operator. Am I missing something or does this seem a little odd, in a real emergency there is not time to listen to English, Spanish, and Tones!!

 

[OneBadV8]

FAIL

 

[MoparMan]

Wow, never heard of that before. Maybe all the lines were tied up.

 

[rich8483]

someone else was currently calling 911 b/c their order was wrong at burger king and all the lines were tied up.

 

[rich8483]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SFpZlKBvY8]YouTube - Funny 911 Calls[/ame]

 

[rich8483]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4WFvvsr7Wk&feature=related]YouTube - 911 Crazy Calls[/ame]

 

[infidel]

YouTube - Funny 911 Calls

And there goes any hope I had for society...

 

[Indy317]

So I did the next best thing and called 911.
I GOT A RECORDING!!!! I was in complete shock.

Welcome to reality. Reality is that we have third world areas within most of our major cities. Enough members of the population of these areas live life like animals, and the results are constant issues: Fighting, kids misbehaving, parents beating kids, drugs, drunkenness, not knowing how to solve a simple civil issue without fighting/pulling guns/calling cops/etc.. These people number in the thousands, and there just aren't enough phone lines to handle the calls to the police to fix their issues.

For those who haven't heard of this, it has been an on-going problem in Marion Co. for a while, especially during high run times for the police. Folks just don't understand in how bad of shape our inner city welfare areas are. We literally have tens of thousands of people who are in their 30s-70s and they have the mental capacity of children and therefore act like children.

 

[public servant]

All the 911 lines were tied up handling the "man with a gun" calls about all the OC'ers.

 

[Dryden]

I remember rumors and Urban Legends of elderly people calling to find directions to the store, or people calling to cancel doctors appointments, or someone calling to report that their car won't start in the morning.....

I'll bet you that there's a pretty good percentage of these types of bogus calls. These have got to make some impact on the response times and number of busy signals experienced by true emergency callers.

 

[IndyParts]

Do you know how many operators are assigned to answer 911 calls for marion county at one time?

Take a guess! lol

 

[fpdshooter]

Unfortunately 911 is a catch all for every little inconvience that life throws at people. There are too many frivolous calls and not enough man power to answer and screen them quickly and efficiently.

While it is unfortunate, it is the reality we deal with every day. The worst part is that until the average person begins to take some personal responsibilty for themselves and quits calling the 911 nanny, it won't get any better.

With the economy in the tank, local govt's can't afford to hire anyone new to help screen the calls either, that is unless ya'll want to pay some more taxes!

 

[Dryden]

Do you know how many operators are assigned to answer 911 calls for marion county at one time?

Take a guess! lol

I'll guess TWO. One person alone for a 12 hour shift and then replaced by the next poor soul.

 

[BloodEclipse]

All the 911 lines were tied up handling the "man with a gun" calls about all the OC'ers.

Are the 911 operators LEOs?
Might not have been able to answer the phone because of a mouthful of donuts.
You know it's rude to talk when you have food in your mouth!

 

[Bill of Rights]

All the 911 lines were tied up handling the "man with a gun" calls about all the OC'ers.

^^This

Unfortunately 911 is a catch all for every little inconvience that life throws at people. There are too many frivolous calls and not enough man power to answer and screen them quickly and efficiently.

While it is unfortunate, it is the reality we deal with every day. The worst part is that until the average person begins to take some personal responsibilty for themselves and quits calling the 911 nanny, it won't get any better.

With the economy in the tank, local govt's can't afford to hire anyone new to help screen the calls either, that is unless ya'll want to pay some more taxes!

and ^^this

Do you know how many operators are assigned to answer 911 calls for marion county at one time?

Take a guess! lol

For the whole county... mm... five? Six maybe? Certainly not many, and the :dumbass: calls don't help any, certainly not when you have to send an officer to either check on whatever it is (ain't 911 hangups FUN?) further depleting resources.

We've most of us chuckled at the joke about the guy calling to report people breaking into his shed and being told no one is available, calling back five minutes later and reporting that there was no need to hurry, he'd shot them. When the yard is full of cop cars, ambulances, and SWAT and the uninjured burglars arrested, the officer asks him, "I thought you said you shot them?" and the guy replied, "I thought you didn't have anyone available!"

Sure, it's funny, until you realize that in reality, those guys would have stopped a property theft, but what did they leave undone to deal with it? A drunk driver? A pursuit of a who-knows-what? Hard to say.

I have great respect for the dispatchers. I know that when I'm at work, they're my lifeline and that of every other on-duty professional at the same time.

Thanks for everything y'all do.

Blessings,
Bill