Another Candidate for a Brutal Doorknob Beating

[wednes]

I've never wanted to punch a 911 operator in the face before. I mean, how often does such a topic come up? But these women deserve to be taken outside and stomped!! And the article? They might be fired? They may even be jailed for a year? Are you fucking kidding me!?!? They deserve to be fired, prosecuted, and incarcerated, not for a year, but for whatever you get for reckless disregard for human life. I'd feel fine about 15 years.

No wonder people think Detroit is a goddamn cesspool.
No wonder people think it's an apathy laden ghetto where no one gives a shit about anyone else.
And what are they doing about it? Apparently operators are now required to take an "ettiquette course."
Yes, because letting a terrified child sit alone with his dying mother is an example of what we call "poor ettiquette."

That little boy is going to hate the establishment for the rest of his life--and who can blame him?

I was just disgusted when I first heard about this case. But I assumed, at least, that appropriate action would be taken and these women would be promptly fired and lose their pensions and such. In fact, the offended women were moved from 911 ops to the records department and not disciplined at all until the 911 tapes were made public. What. The. Fuck??

I could go on all day about how angry this makes me and how horrified I am. Maybe I'm hormonal from my period or something, but looking at that boys face and reading the transcrips for those calls...it just makes me weep. Even if 911 gets 100 prank calls a day, that's no reason to ignore even one. They told him, albeit as a threat, that they were sending the police. They didn't. Three hours later when he called back, they sent the police only to give him a hard time about "making prank calls."

This should have been a charming story about a heroic little boy who knew what to do and saved his Mommy's life. Instead, it's a horrible tale of idiocy, apathy, cynicism, and laziness that traumatized an already frantic child and led to the death of a woman.
And I am fucking sickened by it.

Is there another way of looking at this? Am I missing something here?

Comments

[alex-a-polukhin.livejournal.com]

Am I missing something here?
No. That's all-embracing review.

Current music: David Bowie - "Panic In Detroit"

[madush69.livejournal.com]

You hit it right on the head. I remember when that first hit, and I was like, "Fuck! Why do we teach kids what do do in an emergency if this is the shit that happens?"

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Ha!

How appropriate.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just can't fathom what someone would be thinking when they disregard a child saying "help, my mom passed out."

When I was in college, a frat house caught on fire and the 911 assumed it was a prank. Thankfully, no one died but the damage was more extensive than it needed to be. Do that many people really prank 911 that they assume things are pranks? I just don't get it.

[alex-a-polukhin.livejournal.com]

Music? Coincidence, merely coincidence.

Current music: David Bowie - "Fame"

911 is a joke

[spiralwitch.livejournal.com]

that is horrible. When i first heard about that, i couldn't believe it!! then to hear the audio just makes me want to throw up. i didn't know it was their job to decide what sounded like an emergency.

*shakes head*

they BETTER get fired. and deported some place where stupid people go.

Re: 911 is a joke

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I couldn't even bring myself to listen to the audio, I was already too upset just seeing a picture of the little boy's face.

Now people are saying that the operators are being "scapegoated" because "the press" is so angry about the events. Um...no, the operators are being consequenced because people whose tax dollars fund these idiots are rightfully angry at such a gross oversight.

gah

[katharinakatt.livejournal.com]

Really horrible.

They deserve more than a year in jail.

I figure its the same as manslaughter and should be treated as such.

Re: gah

[wednes.livejournal.com]

True dat.

[maxverbosity.livejournal.com]

In my job, I do get to talk to first responders (police, fire, etc...) on occasion because they are often on the scene of wire-down or speaking at safety meetings and all that...all of them say that they'd rather it be a false alarm or even a prank than not be sent to a scene (or be sent too late) where something is going on.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I should hope so.

Re: 911 is a joke

[spiralwitch.livejournal.com]

indeed!!

[sudrin.livejournal.com]

I remember when I was a kid prank calling 911. It was the last time I did it because after I hung up, they called back.. They didn't sound very amused, they sounded very concerned. I mean this is the one number you should be able to call that skips every single "Boy who cried wolf" scenario. If people do abuse the system then they should suffer the consequences, but basing our safety on the assumptions made on the part of the 911 operator is likely to cost other people lives too.

[nate101000.livejournal.com]

If this were on L&O Jack would prosecute for 'depraved indifference', and push for at least 5 years.

[vjsmom.livejournal.com]

I was incensed when I first heard this story--I didn't realize that nothing had happend to the 911 operators until I read your post. What they did was inexcusable, and the consequences were heartbreaking. I know that if I screwed up at work and someone died as a result, I'd be out the door!

[wednes.livejournal.com]

You prank called 911?!?

We were respectable phone prankers when I was a kid. We used to call people and tell them they won stuff. Although one weekend we looked up dudes names in the phone book and pretended to be the husbands mistress.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Jack seems more like a "murder two" guy in this scenario, though he'd probably only get DI or maybe second degree manslaughter.

[sudrin.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't actually get far enough to "prank" them.. they sounded so serious I got scared and hung up. Of course they called me right back which made it even scarier.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Totally. Not to be crass, but I've been fired from a coupla jobs in my time...and you can be sure nobody died as a result of MY neglegence. :-}

But yes, the lack of proper consequences was what prompted me to post about it because I was so damn angry.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Yikes, that would be scary.

[nate101000.livejournal.com]

There is no intent, so it would be manslaughter. He'd prosecute for manslaughter going for like 25 years, and then offer DI as a settlement for 5-10.

[nokturnalia.livejournal.com]

That's horrifying. It's hard to believe that actually happened. :-( The boy told them his mom was passed out and they were all let me talk to her. You can't put an unconscious person on the phone! What the hell?? That boy is gonna be so damn traumatized... He might have lost his mom because of these two idiots. I don't care how many prank calls they get, but when a child calls and says their mom is unconscious you fucking send help.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

That seems reasonable.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the long and short of it. By all means, consequence people for making prank calls...after you've verified that everything's okay.

Losing a parent is bad enough, but under those circumstances...

Sorry, offtop!

[alex-a-polukhin.livejournal.com]

Can you see my daily posts?
I've got some technical problems...
(Bugs, bugs!)

Re: Sorry, offtop!

[wednes.livejournal.com]

It's hard to say, since my friends list is so damn long. But I'm pretty sure I'm seeing everything. Your pics take a long time to load, because my memory is so low, i think. But they are always worth waiting for.

Still under repair? No, already in action!

[alex-a-polukhin.livejournal.com]

Huh, patched up...
Your pics take a long time to load
Sorry, optimization still going on...

Re: Still under repair? No, already in action!

[wednes.livejournal.com]

No apology needed.

:-}