I don’t disagree, although telco data is in error anywhere from three to ten percent of the time. In a department where you’re doing a screening and will be transferring the call to fire, you have to find out what the incident is. You can’t do that if you can’t get the caller to tell you.
In the city I’m in, we’re a little leery of just dispatching blind because of some of the recent ambush incidents around the country. So our city’s dispatchers will usually try to ‘talk down’ the caller to get the info. If the caller hang-ups, they send both police and fire with instructions to fire to stand back, then try to reconnect with the caller to figure out what’s really happening. You don’t know whether she’s calling for an ambulance because she just shot her kids, or because someone’s ill.
Although there’s a moral and professional responsibility to get the call handled, the liability situation is much less clear cut.
Sorry about that, didnt mean to send it to you. Meant for it to go to all.
Yes, sometimes telco info can be wrong but regardless, we still must respond. Luckily, telco info is updated more often than it used to be. The real problem is with cell phones since it only shows the cell tower closest to the call.
If I receive a call for fire, I transfer the call to fire and stay on the line while they verify to save time. Callers having to repeat everything they just told me could be the difference between life and death, especially where fire calls are concerned.
Also, returning a hang-up calls is a no-no. There could be a domestic in progress of which one party doesn’t want the other party to know they have called the police. If the wrong party answers when you call back, problems can escalate quickly.
All 911 hang-ups are treated the same. The worst case scenario is assumed and the call is approached with extreme caution with no less than 2 units responding.
Liability is clear cut. If you receive a call and fail to render aid, you screwed up. If I receive a call from someone who uses expletives and do nothing because i’m offended by their language and someone gets hurt, killed, dies, whatever. Its my butt.(and rightly so)