My brother Bill does the best impersonation of a 911 operator -- "Sir [90-second pause] calm down [90-second pause] now [90-second pause] what [90-second pause] is your name?" -- and how they hang up on people who let the word "damn" or "hell" fly when trying to get help for their dying spouse. (Are we the only ones who've noticed this phenomenon?) But this real-life response, from a friend of "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" hubby Russell Armstrong, is the greatest:
"My friend just hanged himself, do you understand? Come over here and stop asking questions."
I haven't watched the series premiere yet -- will it even be fun anymore now that this has happened? -- but if you wanna hear this horrific call, TMZ has it HERE.
6 comments:
I can't watch the show. Last night they had a "very special" episode that had the phone number to the suicide prevention people. Didn't "Blossom" have a "very special" episode as well?
this is really awful. the operator is obnoxious with those questions. I'm suprised he didn't ask what his favorite pizza topping was.
It's like the operator is being asked to stall because the star of the show is late. He's just riffing. There is no need for him to be asking such questions about rigor fucking mortis. There is NO REASON for them to have to stay on the phone.
I have to disagree with the posters here. As an emergency worker, the dispatcher did an ok job. Unfortunately, the public has a poor idea of how the 911 system works. You don't simply just "send somebody now." Each call type requires different emergency resources (paramedics v EMTs, fire dept for assistance) and the answers to those questions determine what emergency resources get sent. The dispatcher also has to worry about the safety of the emergency responders.
Verifying the address, the caller's relationship to the call, where the caller is, the cell phone number where the caller can be reached is important as well. Callers give bad addresses all the time and you have emergency workers hunting around the wrong neighborhood. Callers also don't always answer callbacks from 911 so that's one of the reasons to keep the distraught caller on the line so if the responders can't find them the caller can be asked for additional information.
You have the advantage of knowing this was a suicide. This call is actually a crime scene. Until investigated, there is no way of knowing whether this was a murder, a burglary gone wrong, or some other crime. The information the call taker is gathering will be used to help validate the events of the crime. Has the body been moved, how did the people get in, who are they and why are they there.
The questions are also important to make sure the person is actually dead. Frequently, I arrive at calls where the caller was completely wrong and the person was not dead. People panic, they are afraid to look closely at the body. They make assumptions that a 911 call taker can not afford to make.
Yes, the call taker could have been a little bit more organized. But he was taking to the caller, talking to LAPD dispatch, typing the call details into the computer so that they are relayed to Fire/EMS dispatch and probably responding to messages back from both. Maybe, he could have done a better job but he didn't do a bad job either.
I appreciate that a suicide is very disturbing. But that is not the dispatcher's fault. He still has to gather the information that he needs and do his job.
@Anonymous: Your point is well-taken. This operator is far from the ones my brother makes fun of, some of whom literally hang up on people who get emotional or angry. Once this operator ACKNOWLEDGED that help was on the way -- something he resisted doing for an inordinate amount of time -- I was OK with all the repetitious questions etc. as I figured he was doing that for a reason. But for god's sake, TELL PEOPLE help is on the way -- that's why they called!
I also liked the human touch where he let the caller know how awful he felt for him and what he was going through. A little humanity goes a long way.
Kenneth, Not to be too picky but the call-taker only got the address confirmed at 20 sec into the 911 call. (The caller was on a cell phone so the dispatcher had no idea where to send anyone until they got the address.) At 36 seconds -- 16 seconds after getting the correct address to which to send help -- the dispatcher tells the caller help is one the way.
The only other question that the call-taker asked was what happened and the cell phone number before telling him help was on the way.
I realize that it seems insensitive to make the caller wait to hear the help is on the way but every second delayed in getting the address and location information are seconds that help isn't on the way.
Every second delay in finding out what emergency services are needed are seconds that those services aren't on their way. Cops can't start IVs and paramedics don't carry handcuffs. Getting the appropriate help there quickly is more important than just getting someone there.
As to the bad dispatchers, no one in emergency services wants them around either and we are motivated to get rid of them. Those dispatchers that hang up on callers are the same dispatchers that don't answer radio calls from units in the field quickly if they are pissed off at the cop or the medic.
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