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9-1-1 Should Never Give Me A Busy Signal

techcrunch.com — The first officer to arrive at the scene said it took him two minutes to get there from the time he got the call. Which means that it took approximately 18 minutes for the news to reach him in the first place.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 28, 2009

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  • lougoose, on 06/28/2009, -2/+202Maybe if people would stop calling 911 when Burger King runs out of pickles, we wouldn't have this problem.
  • kmcurr, on 06/28/2009, -10/+159Faster response time. Call 0118 999 881 999 119 7253.
  • lougoose, on 06/28/2009, -2/+130Better to have redundant calls than the bystander effect where no one calls.
  • inactive, on 06/28/2009, -3/+107It's the call center that is the problem. The few people, regardless of carrier probably all used the same tower, and got linked to the same call center, which was simply overloaded by callers. It happens all of the time, a big problem is multiple people calling to report the same incident. It could be improved with routing, if you get a bogged down call center, have some kind of prompt ask if it is truly an emergency (you would be surprised how many people call for routine business that could be carried out with the non emergency numbers) and rout them to a dispatcher that can get in radio contact with the services. It is certainly possible since many states have a huge trunked system with repeaters everywhere or computer networks, and centers in every county, so things are still relatively local.

    The problem is, everyone /thinks/ they are worthy of the "emergency" priority, and everyone thinks they are reporting a unique problem with details nobody else has (anybody in tech support can attest to this) and go off for minutes about who caused the crash, what they were driving, the names of the people involved, the cars- it goes on. The operator does not want to interrupt, because he may offend or confuse them and risk losing valuable info in the pause or from them becoming more vague or repeating themslves. The call should not last more than 1 minute, location, injuries, pertinent medical info if you know it, your assessment of what is need, and then stay on the line for instruction from the operator.
  • NodOfficer, on 06/28/2009, -1/+88You'll also get nicer ambulances and better looking drivers!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8GtuPdrUQ
  • p51d007, on 06/28/2009, -0/+87I volunteered as a dispatcher for over 12 years. I can tell you that with the advent of wireless phones, the call volumes have increased like you wouldn't believe. When someone sees something, instead of getting one call, you get hundreds at the same time. I remember one time, we had a multi car crash we were working, paramedics, fire rescue & officers ALREADY ON SCENE, but we continued to receive calls telling us of the accident. Couple that with everyone using 911 as a 411, wanting to know the location of this or that & you can see why sometimes you get "a busy signal". Also, this is one of the most high stress jobs you can imagine. A very HIGH burnout rate. Some people just cannot cope with turning your emotions on and off. You don't see too many people who spend more than 10 years as a 911 operator, the stress will just get to them. (I quit because the city & county combined operations, and volunteers were no longer needed). You can sit around, with nothing to do, and in one minute, have 20-30 calls come into the center in the space of a couple minutes.
    Kudos to those that man the trenches...it's a VERY tough job that most people do not understand.
  • MRJackSchitt, on 06/28/2009, -0/+66Maybe if Burger King would keep a decent supply of pickles on hand, we wouldn't have this problem.
  • onClipEvent, on 06/28/2009, -9/+66FTA: "Now, I’ll be totally upfront and admit that I know relatively little about the way 911 dispatchers work."

    how about interviewing the people that work there BEFORE you write this article? It'll be much more informative....
  • ZenDriver, on 06/28/2009, -5/+57And this is why I have a Concealed Weapons License and don't walk out of my front door without a weapon. People (during net discussions mostly) think I am some sort of militant nutter who has a hero fantasy. The reality is, I've called 9-1-1 and been put on hold right in the middle of a violent crime. It was an experience that taught me that the police - whatever their faults of intentions - are really just there to scrape the mess up and write some paperwork. The idea that, if you need help, just dialing 911 is going to save the day is the most delusional fantasy in existence.

    And yes, as a former EMT, I also carry a full trauma kit in my car (not a boo-boo kit with bandaids, but full up airway, c-collar, compression bandages, blood clotters, epinephrin, duct tape, sharp sticks and foul language). Oh, and a fire extinguisher.

    Call me a paranoid weirdo, but the fact is we are on our own. The government is never around to help.
  • black27696, on 06/28/2009, -1/+42This is due to low staffing and lack of funds for 911 centers. Which are voted for. Which many people (read: idiots) actually vote against. In Saginaw, MI they almost voted to eliminate their 911 center completely one or two elections ago. Thank God I don't live in that city (close to it) because they kinda need a 911 center.

    Yes, they almost got rid of 911 in this city: http://www.cityrating.com/citycrime.asp?city=Sagin ...
  • hartley, on 06/28/2009, -1/+37There was a story out of California about a year ago, where a kid was able to mask his phone number and prank call 911 multiple times a day for months.

    They finally caught the bastard, and of course, all he got a slap on the wrist.

    If you ask me, people like this and the one you mentioned should be charged with endangering public safety.
  • PhrosTT, on 06/28/2009, -5/+38i got bad news for you guys.

    if you thought 911 was some magical system where cops arrive in minutes once you call.... it's not.

    i called, got put ON HOLD, and the switchboard dropped my call. then i had to call back. then the ambulance i requested got lost and couldn't locate a straightforward address.

    it was about 20 minutes by the time the ambulance arrived.
  • Fabbyfubz, on 06/28/2009, -0/+32***** YEAH, PSYCHOLOGY!
  • xGeneric, on 06/28/2009, -1/+29"It could be improved with routing, if you get a bogged down call center, have some kind of prompt ask if it is truly an emergency"

    Unfortunately a lot of people are completely retarded and they really believe their petty issue deserves the attention of 9-1-1. Like those morons who call 9-1-1 because some fast food joint gave em' the wrong burger, I'm sure they thought it was important enough to call an emergency number, and if prompted with a "is this really an emergency" option, I'd be willing to bet they'd still choose 'Yes'.
  • hatdrop, on 06/28/2009, -0/+24I immediately thought of the stone cutters episode of the simpsons:

    Homer: Jealous?
    Lenny: Well...no, we've got the same chair.
    Homer: [smug] You're jealous.
    Lenny: Your membership pack. [hands it to him]
    Homer: [pulls out a decal] What's this?
    Lenny: You put that sticker on your car so you won't get any tickets.
    And this other one keeps paramedics from stealing your wallet
    while they're working on you.
    Carl: Oh, and don't bother calling 911 any more...here's the _real_
    number. [hands him a card with "912"]
  • lee1060, on 06/28/2009, -1/+25Four! I mean five! I mean fire!
  • DouglasQ, on 06/28/2009, -0/+20I should not know that whole number off by heart...
  • opticwind, on 06/28/2009, -0/+15Didn't read the article, huh?
  • opticwind, on 06/28/2009, -0/+14What plane? Additionally, let's do some basic math:

    Assuming he was driving towards or was stopped. Obviously he didn't drive past the scene. So, from receiving that call, he probably drove there at roughly 50-60 mph on the highway...and at two minutes...he must have been about 2.8 miles away. Do you see accidents nearly 3 miles before you get to them?

    Also no mention of any particularly big smoke in the article.
  • Gareth321, on 06/28/2009, -4/+18I can respect that. While I don't believe in gun ownership in my country, if I lived in a country where every nut and his dog could own a gun, I'd carry one too. I also respect that you carry around a proper medical kit, and you know how to use it. If more people had the mentality that it's their country, and their responsibility to protect and build it, society would be a hell of a lot nicer.
  • tgc1, on 06/28/2009, -2/+15Kudos man. You're one of so few who truly understand things these days. Way too many people have turned into babies who rely entirely on the government and police to sort out their problems for them.
  • Poseur117, on 06/28/2009, -0/+13Before this, I'd never heard of the IT Crowd, but thanks to this video I just ordered the first season.

    Thanks for introducing me to what appears to brilliant comedy.
  • ricodued, on 06/28/2009, -1/+14They couldn't figure it out after the first or second call?
  • Kuci06, on 06/28/2009, -0/+13...THREEEE
  • tehjai, on 06/28/2009, -4/+1720 minutes response time isn't that bad. I live out in a rural area and that's the standard waiting time. There wasn't a possibility of a volunteer/fire department that could assist or something?
  • TheKitchenSinkX, on 06/28/2009, -0/+13Alternately, the call was placed for someone else.
  • ThanatosST, on 06/28/2009, -0/+11I'm pretty sure your neighbor burning some popcorn isn't an emergency.

    Now, if you smell a LOT of smoke, or see a lot of smoke, then perhaps you have a valid reason for calling 911.
  • duo8675309, on 06/28/2009, -0/+10Goddamn, dude

    Edit: By that I mean, goddamn that's a full trunk. Not goddamn you're weird.
  • DucoNihilum, on 06/28/2009, -0/+10Haha, I was thinking "WTF is this guy talking about...." then it clicked.

    I think he thought the article was talking about September 11th.
  • bbqribs, on 06/28/2009, -0/+10And as a *current* Paramedic, you do realize that you can get your helpful hide sued for that, right? Especially for carrying drugs. It sucks, but you should know that's just how things are these days. People will even use the Good Samaritan law against you (and your insurance company) if they think that they can get a nice big payout because of it.

    I carry a trauma kit as well, but I'm covered under our department's protocols. I am not covered when using drugs that aren't off the ambulance, however.
  • merreborn, on 06/28/2009, -0/+10I'll just put this over here, with the rest of the fire.
  • Gillos, on 06/28/2009, -0/+10The real number is 912!
  • inactive, on 06/28/2009, -0/+10you are why 9/11 response times are so ***** - and guess what, you call 9/11 with a real emergency and the police will see it is you and be in no rush whatsoever.
  • Elliuotatar, on 06/28/2009, -0/+9I've never called 911 and had the cops arrive in less than 15 minutes, even when it was about a woman being threatened by some guys, or some kids smashing car windows with rocks. And when they do arrive, it's always two or three guys at once, so it's quite obvious instead of whoever is available charging to the rescue, they're waiting for backup to become available. Which is not surprising. This sort of thing was why the Columbine shooting was as bad as it was. The cops just waited outside for swat to arrive.

    Same thing happened when I called in an accident too. Guy smashed the windshield with his head, I called within moments of hearing the crash, cops didn't arrive for 15 minutes, and when they did, no ambulance followed, even though the state of the people in the vehicles was unknown and I told them it looked pretty bad.
  • alexforcefive, on 06/28/2009, -4/+13It doesn't really matter, does it? He was making the (very true) point that 911 should never give you a busy signal. You don't need to know everything about the system to understand that.
  • TennBikeBerk, on 06/28/2009, -1/+10Part of this story should be our dependence on 911. We're used to thinking if you have a cell phone then you're set. Even if 911 could instantly dispatch, sometimes help is a ways away.

    How many people carry first aid kits in their cars and know how to use half of the stuff inside them?

    When an incident occurs, it'd be really nice to see people actually helping, rather than just calling 911 for somebody else to come help.
  • centran, on 06/28/2009, -0/+9If you are on your cellphone then the state you are in might have a special number you can dial on cell phones only.
    I can dial *999 on my cellphone and it will direct me to a special emergency response center. They will either report to, dispatch directly, or forward my call to the appropriate authorities.

    These people could have been in between towns and the celltower connected their 911 call to a local town. I live in a northern suburb of Chicago and even though it is a decent sized town, 911 goes straight to the police main number. It doesn't matter if you dialed the 7-digit number or 911. They don't have a non-emergency number. They have a big fall-back trunk but everything goes to that 1 line and only a couple people are manning it.

    That could have happened to these people. They could have been flooding a small town's 911. If your state has an alternative cell phone only emergency number then please look it up and use it. They are established for a reason.
  • JonTheGoose, on 06/28/2009, -5/+13If you pay taxes that are supposed to fund service like emergency response and ensure that those services run smoothly and efficiently then you've got every reason to bitch.
  • linagee, on 06/28/2009, -2/+10Why is the parent dugg down? If they need details, they should have your number and be able to call you right back and ask for more info. This actually seems like a great idea. TXT in your 911, you either receive a ticket number for the incident (in case you need to call back in) or you receive a "we've already recorded this incident" type response.

    Txting 911 does not seem like a one solution fits all type thing, but may actually help in hostage situations/etc where the victim can't necessarily talk.
  • vurdillac, on 06/28/2009, -0/+7Poor Kitty Genovese. That story has been bumming out Sociology 101 students for decades now.
  • virtualonliner, on 06/28/2009, -1/+8Let us all call 911 to report about this
  • sonicpentatonic, on 06/28/2009, -1/+8I'm not sure how current this is now, but a couple of years ago a local news channel did a story about how many phones have 911 built into their speed dial from the factory as the 9 key, and these keys were getting pressed far too often and accidentally calling emergency services while the phone was in a pocket/purse/jacket/etc. And, unlike trying to dial a regular speed dial number, the emergency speed dial would still be active if the phone was locked.

    These features that were built into phones to protect people actually ended up contributing to making the problem worse by clogging up phone lines.
  • MattBD, on 06/28/2009, -0/+7This is Digg - how stupid do you think we are? Buried AND reported.
  • ricodued, on 06/28/2009, -2/+9Yeah, that'll work real well when people that use T9 get accidentally corrected and don't realize it due to the panic and confusion.
  • TyrannousDotNet, on 06/28/2009, -1/+8here is your new cell phone (so we know where you are) just call us if you have a problem.
  • localzuk, on 06/28/2009, -2/+9Damn this is messed up. Busy 911?? Over here (UK), the 999 operators usually answer within a matter of seconds. In single digits at that!

    I'd be shocked if I ever got an engaged tone.
  • djetaine, on 06/28/2009, -0/+7I love that show but laugh tracks are incredibly annoying.
    I really don't need a television show telling me when it's ok to laugh.
  • Silentnite85, on 06/28/2009, -0/+6All I wanted was a western burger. Why won't you come protect me from Burger orders?
  • GoatMonkey2112, on 06/28/2009, -0/+6I had a similar experience. I called 911 and nobody answered. It wasn't a busy signal, just nobody ever answered. There was a person outside trying to break into cars in our parking lot at about 4:00 am. About 15 minutes later I got a call back from a 911 operator, and told them about it. Another 30 minutes after that a cop showed up at my door, thinking that someone was trying to break into my house. I had to re-explain what was happening and the person was long gone.
  • antoniuk, on 06/28/2009, -4/+10Cutbacks are a bitch aren't they? "Oh no we don't need bailout funds to keep things going" :/
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