911 is for Dummies, Again
As Banana Lee summed up nicely a few weeks ago, 911 is a great service for getting emergency help, but it’s really not so good for other purposes. One of those purposes that should be avoided is using it to make prank phone calls insulting the police and challenging them to find you, especially when they’ve already visited you earlier in the night.
What’s the deal? Why has inappropriate 911 use been in the headlines so much in the past few months? Has the public become particularly dumb all of a sudden? Are the news outlets now just reporting the absurdities that have happened all along?
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I also think there is a confusion about when to use 911. We have been taught all our lives to call 911 when there is an emergency, so some people translate that into- my cat is caught in a tree - that is an emergency. No one ever tried to describe what is or what isn’t qualified as an emergency.
I have lived in a challenged neighborhood for the past 10 years. When we heard gunshots, we would call 911 and they would take the call. When we saw people fighting, 911 again and they would take the call. Yet, once, when I called about shooting, an officer came to the house and point blank told me that after the fact, not to call 911, but to call non-emergency. So, from that, I think there is differing information coming from people of authority. I even wonder sometimes if my calls should go to 911 or non-emergency. Luckly, I have both programmed in my phone. Yes, I am the guy who actually calls 911 when I see shit go down.