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Unsettling 911 call
Sep. 30th, 2019 06:24 pm On Saturday night (maybe 2-3am) Richard woke me by crawling into bed, whereupon we both noticed a lot of shouting going on outside our bedroom window on 40th Street. It went on for several minutes - clearly a crowd of people yelling angry threats at each other. No gunshots, but it sounded like something that could easily escalate to that. Not a dire emergency, but something that it seemed worthwhile calling the police over.
So, for the first time in many years, I dialed 911 from my land line. I was shocked at how hard it was to get through. First, I dialed 9-1-1 and waited for something to happen. Nothing did; apparently my phone automatically recognizes a 10 digit sequence as a phone number and immediately dials it, whereas you have to push some other button to make it recognize 911. I finally figured out which button that was and did it. That's my fault for not knowing how my phone works, but even after I managed to enter the number there was at least 20 seconds of dead air before I heard it start to ring.
When the operator picked up she didn't ask whether I was in immediate danger or anything like that, just started asking for address, name, phone number. Okay, name I guess I understand, but doesn't the 911 system flash your phone number and address on their screen? So I figured she was just double-checking, and gave the address quickly, only to get "What city and state?" Huh? Was I going through a call center in Indiana or something? I thought 911 was locally handled. I guess not. She finally asked what my emergency was and I explained. Bored pause at the other end, then, "I'll try to connect you with the police." And then she put me on hold. For at least a few minutes. Anyway, long enough that I was still on hold when flashing lights appeared down in the street and the shouting died down. At this point I would have liked to hang up, but I figured I'd just get a callback in 20 minutes if I did that. So I waited a few more minutes until a policeman answered. I said, "Never mind, I think the police are already here," and the cheerful voice said, "Yes, we're here! It's all under control." He made it sound like I was talking to the guy in the patrol car, but I'm not sure that makes sense. Probably a dispatcher somewhere at the precinct station.
Anyway, no shots were ever fired, the police showed up promptly (most likely in response to one of my neighbors calling before I did). But I'm more than a little dismayed at how hard it was to get through to anybody, and how lackadaisacal the response was. If I actually HAD been in imminent danger, I would have been dead.
So, for the first time in many years, I dialed 911 from my land line. I was shocked at how hard it was to get through. First, I dialed 9-1-1 and waited for something to happen. Nothing did; apparently my phone automatically recognizes a 10 digit sequence as a phone number and immediately dials it, whereas you have to push some other button to make it recognize 911. I finally figured out which button that was and did it. That's my fault for not knowing how my phone works, but even after I managed to enter the number there was at least 20 seconds of dead air before I heard it start to ring.
When the operator picked up she didn't ask whether I was in immediate danger or anything like that, just started asking for address, name, phone number. Okay, name I guess I understand, but doesn't the 911 system flash your phone number and address on their screen? So I figured she was just double-checking, and gave the address quickly, only to get "What city and state?" Huh? Was I going through a call center in Indiana or something? I thought 911 was locally handled. I guess not. She finally asked what my emergency was and I explained. Bored pause at the other end, then, "I'll try to connect you with the police." And then she put me on hold. For at least a few minutes. Anyway, long enough that I was still on hold when flashing lights appeared down in the street and the shouting died down. At this point I would have liked to hang up, but I figured I'd just get a callback in 20 minutes if I did that. So I waited a few more minutes until a policeman answered. I said, "Never mind, I think the police are already here," and the cheerful voice said, "Yes, we're here! It's all under control." He made it sound like I was talking to the guy in the patrol car, but I'm not sure that makes sense. Probably a dispatcher somewhere at the precinct station.
Anyway, no shots were ever fired, the police showed up promptly (most likely in response to one of my neighbors calling before I did). But I'm more than a little dismayed at how hard it was to get through to anybody, and how lackadaisacal the response was. If I actually HAD been in imminent danger, I would have been dead.
