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I am thinking a $500 fine for these morons calling 911 for directions and such might help.

magillapd and rm9792,

The problem is in how you define an emergency. As an experienced officer, I would say that 90% of the calls were not emergencies TO ME. By that, I don't mean I did not care, I mean that they were not things I would have thought of as an emergency. But, the police, in this case, are the victims of their own success.

We teach people from the time they are little children that the police are there to help. And what number do you call when you want a policeman? How many people know the non-emergency number for their local police department? In the last couple years, some of the major cities have tried to push the 311 system for non-emergency calls, but they confuse people by advertising it as for all non-emergency city services. Is there a water leak? Call 311. Is there a dog running loose? Call 311. What number do you call when you find that your parked car was broken into sometime over night? I don't want animal control and I don't want the water department. I want the police and I want them out here now. That means I call the only number I know for the police, 911.

And it is even worse for the areas that do not have 311 systems. Sure, the Luling PD has a non-emergency dispatch number. But where is it listed? Yep, only in the phone book, which is getting hard to find nowadays. And they make it worse by listing the admin office number first and then the non-emergency dispatch number for an after hours admin number, with the dispatch for non-emergency use as a kind of last minute thought. I have seen this for years in big cities too. I only know the SAPD non-emergency number from working there. I never saw it advertised anywhere.

And that is without getting into the way a person feels when he is the one calling. I am lost and need to be somewhere may be an emergency to them. My car was broken into and now I am going to be late for work while I wait for the police to get the report may be an emergency to them. I don't know how they handle pressure (and I consider the group on this board to be way above the average for pressure simply because they have even considered defending themselves).

On the example of repeat calls, some of it does get ridiculous. I have had people stop at accident scenes when I was there in uniform and with a marked car, just to see if we needed more help. But I would expect you to get 911 calls for most things like that. The caller really doesn't know how many people have already called in or if they are the first. Did the accident just happen, or is it old enough that the cops are going to pull up before I can hang up? If they are not in sight with the lights going, the person driving by does not know they are on the way. They really are trying to do the right thing and I won't put them down for that.

Last thing is why this makes it hard to fine or prosecute people for 911 abuse. That is a crime already on the books. But proving it was done by stupidity is hard. Most of it comes under the heading of not attirbuting to malice the things which are properly blamed on ignorance. And it is hard to fix stupid, if you know what I mean.

PappaGun wrote:I once called the gas company about a gas leak and you wouldn't believe how quickly they showed up.
I've often thought that if I really needed help I would call them first.

Just like the pay phone companies. (back when you could find a pay phone) Tell them the phone is broken, and it may get looked at in a week or two. Call them and ask if it's really supposed to be letting you call long distance for free, and they'll have a tech there before you hang up.

srothstein wrote:We teach people from the time they are little children that the police are there to help. And what number do you call when you want a policeman? How many people know the non-emergency number for their local police department?

I used to have the dispatchers' direct lines memorized. The problem around here is that cell phone 911 calls route to the county first, so calling the PD non-emergency number will usually get you to the right person faster than calling 911 and asking the county dispatcher to forward you to the city dispatcher. When I was driving a 3-county sales route, I had voice dials set up for each city and county non-emergency dispatch number for just that reason. It was handy to just push a button, say "Sheriff, Mills County" and not have to worry that the cellular system might decide to connect me to the Brownwood Fire Department.

I get your point Mr. Rothstein but some things are blatantly stupid such as calls for directions, needing phone numbers (pizza, Walmart, etc), needing an officer for minor non-emergency stuff etc. Do this like other grey areas and refer over to the DA's office and let them decide. I have sat in the dispathers office many many times and heard these silly calls.

rm9792 wrote:I get your point Mr. Rothstein but some things are blatantly stupid such as calls for directions, needing phone numbers (pizza, Walmart, etc), needing an officer for minor non-emergency stuff etc. Do this like other grey areas and refer over to the DA's office and let them decide. I have sat in the dispathers office many many times and heard these silly calls.

Perhaps some public awareness via PSA's or something.
But honestly, I do not want my tax money pursuing such crimes.

I almost wish someone like that would go into my back yard. I promise you it would be the biggest mistake of their lives after my Rot got a hold of them. He is all business and no play. He was actually trained partially by me and a friend who owned a k-9 service who trained dogs for different P.D.'s and an airport dog or 2.

BTW Papa, thats a good looking animal

Mr.ViperBoa wrote:
BTW Papa, thats a good looking animal

Thanks. He's a good dog. Getting up there in years at 11.5 now.
But still has his health and his spirit.

srothstein wrote:magillapd and rm9792,

The problem is in how you define an emergency. As an experienced officer, I would say that 90% of the calls were not emergencies TO ME. By that, I don't mean I did not care, I mean that they were not things I would have thought of as an emergency. But, the police, in this case, are the victims of their own success.

I am talking about the sheer amount of 911 calls that come in that don't even get dispatched to the officers. Dispatchers field alot of calls that officers are generally not aware of. I work for a somewhat larger agency, and we have seven 911 trunk lines. That means we can have up to seven 911 callers at one time. If all 7 of those lines get tied up with people asking for directions, or calling some other reason, the rest of the callers either get put into a QUE or get rolled over to another agency's phone lines.

When there is an accident or a fire, I swear every single person with a cell phone calls in at the same time and doesn't stop calling until a first responder is at the location.

The main issue is cell phone users. They used 911 as a 411 function. When all these lines are tied up with this, and a real emergancy caller is trying to get through, that's when it's noticed.

DA's prosecute felonies, and a select few misdemeanors. This charge would be prosecuted by a city or county attorney.