I called 911 and the call is still connected 45 min later!?!

[mahina]

I had to call the police to give info about a person who may have assaulted (choked and punched) my elderly neighbor in his home today. I remembered that there is a person living in his car about two blocks away that matches the description and more than that, is super hostile and agressive for no known reason.

When I called HPD I said it was not an emergency. When the operator got on the line I explained that there was a person matching the description etc. etc...and she asked me if I was certain that he was there right now. No, I don't know where he is, but I'd like you to know where he lives.

The operator went off on me, "WHY ARE YOU CALLING THEN if you don't know where he is...."

I would rather have her say "you need to call when you know he is there" than yell at me like I'm six years old. Rather than arguing with her I asked her for her name and thanked her. I may have hung up on her. Not good, I know.

But my phone is still busy 45 minutes later. Can't dial out, nobody can dial in, they get a busy signal.

To me this seems like incredibly unprofessional and infantile behavior on her part, but maybe I'm wrong in gathering that she is hanging up my line.

What do you guys think...is this how the cops and dispatch work in your town?

Here, they ask you "Why didn't you call us yesterday?" "Why didn't you file a report then?" etc. with a real sting to it. I think this kind of unprofessional conduct is really recent, within the last 3 or 4 years. It's like having the mean girls from high school run the police force.

I used to know people at HPD but no more. They were the very best of us. I know there are still lots of great people in HPD but also know that lots of good people have been squuzed out because they didn't like what they were seeing go on.

It feels like we dont' really even have a police force most of the time.

Meanwhile I sliced my thumb open cutting onions and had to sew it up. Have to keep my mind on the task at hand!

Anyway, thanks for your input.

[Egnever]

1. Sorry but I gotta agtree with the operator

Why in the world are you calling 911 with a description of someone involved in a crime that has already been reported?

911 is for emergencies, your info hardly qualifies as such.

[mahina]

4. Here, there's only one number to reach the police, and its 911.

When the emergency operator answers, they ask if its an emergency or not. If not, the call is diverted to the police.

I did explain that initially but I hope this further information clarifies the situation for you.

And my phone line is still connected to them now. I can't hang it up on my end.

[Egnever]

9. If thats true then they should rethink thier phone system there.

[Statistical]

19. Many cities do this.

In Chesapeake VA if you call local Police number it tells you to hang up and call 911.

Even if you stay on the line it asks you for direct extension of officer you are trying to reach. If you don't know the direct extension it redirects you to 911.

This is very common in many parts of the country. Centralized dispatching. 911 hasn't been used for "emergency only" in many major cities for a decade now.

[CreekDog]

6. Wrong...In Tucson, for example, Tucson, the police say you always call 911

even if not an emergency.

and the OP explained that the operator's complaint was not that it wasn't an emergency.

yet you said you agreed with something the operator did not say.

this annoys me about DU.

[mahina]

10. Feel you.

I tried to take the whole post down but its too late. I realize it was a little bit of a random message because I was still mad and had also just sliced part of my thumb off.

I think the problem isn't really with DU, but is a problem inherent in electronic communication. No room for context, nonverbal cues, etc.

And since I haven't been posting here for a while, nobody knows me anymore. My DU buddies are not around I guess.

I still think of this place as a great resource for shared knowledge and experience. Thanks for your supportive comment.

[CreekDog]

22. Actually, the problem is simply the people that act like this

that respond unhelpfully to a post and also demonstrate that they didn't read the post or understand what they read.

this is further demonstrated when they don't respond to people pointing out their error.

i think the reason you can say for the most part DU is not like this is because most people aren't like this.

so what i'm saying is that this happens a lot on DU but only from a small number of posters. sadly that reflects on the whole experience of posting here.

(my comments don't apply to someone who simply makes a mistake and corrects it or clarifies what they meant)

[bobburgster]

2. No need to be rude, but they were right.

You don't use 911 for non-emergencies.

[mahina]

5. It is the only number here that exists to reach the police.

[bobburgster]

25. Oh wow, guess that will keep the calls down.

Seriously though, you need to talk to the selectman/mayors office. You have to have some number avaiable for non-emergency calls.

[left is right]

3. do they still charge a huge fee if you call 911?

15 years ago I had my daughter call 911 to report an electrical fire in the neighboring apartment. I was busy turning off the neighbor’s breakers. She yelled that she was put on hold; I yelled back to hang, redial and this time say “fire”. My phone was charged $15 for each call.

[PatSeg]

15. $15 per phone call?

That is insane. I've never heard anything like that.

[blogslut]

7. That doesn't make sense

Do you live in an area where there are still "party lines"? I just don't understand how the police can override your personal phone line like that.

[mahina]

11. It's working again. The operator was irked at me and didn't hang up on her end.

It tied my line up for hours. Really childish and also not great for anyone trying to call them.

Anyway, problem is solved, thanks for taking the time to write!

[Hekate]

13. Oh, you really need to talk to her supervisor about that -- write a letter, too, and cc the Chief...

That is the most unprofessional thing I ever heard of.

Hekate

[Statistical]

20. I agree. Totally unprofessional. Line seizure should only be used for true emergencies.

The purpose of this is to allow line to remain open in case intruder/criminal is at the scene. The operator can listen to situation rely information to Police.

It should never be used as harassment. It would be like a Police Officer tazering you if you annoy them.

[old mark]

8. The police around here don't want to get involved too much - they

seem to have a "live and let live" attitude, unless you are immediately witnessing a crime. Oh, and if you are a witness, you will be hounded by the DA's office with subpoenas to appear at EVERY scheduled hearing for that case. We have gone to court 3 times in the last 5 weeks, only to find that the hearing was continued and we were never told - we showed up and no one else did. And we were told that we would be charged with contempt if we ignored any subpoenas.


mark

[Hekate]

12. You did what to your thumb?! Yeesh, Mahina. Look, if da buggah phone is still busy, go next door...

... and use theirs to call the phone company if you don't have a cell phone. Just say your last call never completed, and get the phone company to fix 'em.

Next time you call these unfriendly folks, tell them you feel personally threatened by the presence of this hostile and aggressive car-dweller, and would they check into it. Tell the dispatcher you need to speak with a police officer. Give the officer a few examples of his unwarranted aggressive behavior, and mention that oh by the way, he may match the description of the person who assaulted your neighbor.

If the dispatcher continues to be hostile herself, a letter to the Chief and/or an LTTE are warranted. No way should a 911 dispatcher behave that way, and no way should HPD have no other way to call in.

Does the newspaper still have a Kokua Line for local complaints? If so, it's time to write to them, because this situation with not being able to contact HPD with info about a recent assault is just stupid, and dangerous to boot. If nothing else it makes you cut your thumb -- what do you mean you sewed it up?!

My local PD and Sheriff have a phone tree where you have to declare if it's an emergency or not, and if it's not an emergency but it's after business hours, tough luck. Sometimes I use my judgment, like the time someone's boat was parked too close to the corner and completely blocked my view of oncoming traffic -- After weeks of this I phoned the Sheriff, apologized up front that it wasn't an emergency, but said I was eventually going to run into someone else's car and then it *would* be an emergency because I'd already had some close calls. I said I didn't know who else I could complain to, didn't know who the boat belonged to, but it was a hazard. Within a week the thing was moved back from the corner.

Take care of yourself. This is upsetting, I know. :hug:

Hekate

[mahina]

14. Hey, sis, mahalos!

Super sketchy situation yeah?

My poor neighbor George...only reason I wen call HPD at all was thinking how I'd feel if da bugga come back tonight. He was seriously trying to kill him. Almost never get any kine violence (other then domestic :( ) and to happen to such a sweet man. Auwe no ho'i.

Complaints about HPD kind of have to be anonymous because of how they are now, and then of course anon. complaints are ignored. It's the shits! And Mufi wants to be Gov? Oh mercy!

Aloha sister, a hui hou...

[Hekate]

23. Some aloha, dat...

:wow:

[PoiBoy]

16. It happened to my wife too...

..she had to call 911 here on Maui, and her phone was busy for about a half hour... she was told by the cops that the 911 system "captures" your phone so that if they need to contact you regarding the situation, they can... since then, we resolved that if anything happened and we were able to, we'd call each other first for the heads up before calling 911...

sorry about your experience and your thumb...

:hi:

[KharmaTrain]

17. Some 9/11 Call Centers Are Outsourced Now...

That's what's happened in my area. Shortfalls on budgets make it cheaper for a municipality to pay a private company to answer these calls and do the dispatching rather than pay a full time staffer (not to mention the savings on benefits and these call centers are non-union). A friend who works at one has told me her company's business has grown from about 10 towns two years ago to over 50 now. She said there are some places where the police department is almost closed down at night...if a citizen goes to the police station, they have to call the 9/11 Center to get an officer to show up at their station house.

You might want to try calling one of the local news operations with your information...

[lunatica]

18. Once my son mistakenly dialed 911 when he meant to dial 411

As soon as he realized what he'd done he hung up but not long after that a cop showed up at our door wanting to know if everything was OK. He said someone in the house called 911 and the people answering the phone knew there was an elderly person living in this house so they called the cops. He asked permission, which I granted, to come in and not only see my mother but to ask if anyone else was in the house. I told him my son was in his room and he asked to talk to him. He followed my to my son's room and checked that out too. That's when my son said he had called the wrong number.

I was surprised, and grateful that my mother's age (and illness) would get that kind of attention so quickly, but it left me feeling quite ambivalent about the vague Big Brotherish feel of it. It also reminded me that I've heard so many stories of it taking ambulances and cops way too long to respond.

It must be the neighborhood. The homes in the hills around my condo have been developed into McMansions since a few years after we bought the condo so it's become a high class real estate location. I can only surmise that this is the reason for the police department's personal touch.

[Berry Cool]

21. Actually, that has nothing to do with it.

It's the weirdness of police work. I used to live in a town where my boss once called the cops because I didn't show up for work one day. It was a day everyone had the option of taking off as a holiday, or not, and apparently she wasn't really clear on my plans to take it as a holiday. She was planning to work, and when I didn't come in, she tried to call me at home and got no answer because I had left momentarily, and I had no cell phone back then.

When I got back home, I noticed the window on my back door had been broken, and there was a note on the door saying "Call the police." I called the police, learned what my boss had done, and discovered that the police themselves had broken the glass so they could unlock the door and enter my apartment to try to find me. They told me they would have to send an officer over to the house to confirm my identity, which they did. They then reported to my boss that I was alive and well and simply taking the day off.

In this same town, I later had my home burglarized not once, but twice. I called the cops both times but they were extremely indifferent. When my boss had called to say I hadn't shown up for work, they didn't wait 24 hours before going to look for me. When I got burglarized twice, they filed a report but said I musn't expect any actual results or recovery. "This isn't Hollywood, ma'am."

I guess I should be glad they considered my physical safety more important than my stolen possessions, but I got the feeling that if one of my relatives had said I was missing on a weekend, they wouldn't have gone looking for me until a certain number of hours passed. But because my boss called in, they were right on it. Oh, and I never did get any of my stuff back, despite being pretty sure of who had done the burglary. He wasn't stopped until he was caught shoplifting. Because, you see, stealing from a PERSON doesn't matter, but stealing from a STORE, i.e. a CORPORATION, is another matter altogether.

Oh, and the broken window? My landlady had to replace it at her own expense. Had to call the glass guy and everything. It was the cops' job to break it--and they left all the broken glass and mess behind to be cleaned up by someone else.

[Cleita]

24. Get a neighbor to call the telephone company repair to

disconnect your line connection to 911. I hope you and your neighbor are all right. Maybe if you have time, you should just walk into the police department to file a report with them.