This one is rather strange.
The other night I got an abandoned 911 from a residence not too far from Police Headquarters. I answered the phone and all I heard was static. Couldn't tell if anybody was there talking or not. I hung up 911 and picked up the 7-digit line and dialed the number back. It rang once then I started hearing the static again so I just hung up. I dispatched a cop to that residence as an abandoned 911, busy on the callback. While he was en-route, I tried calling it again and got a normal busy signal. Three cops arrive, and after a few minutes, they asked me to try calling the number again. All that was running through my mind was that they had multiple phone lines and they weren't sure which one they might have mistakenly dialed 911 from. Well, when I called it back, I got a fast busy signal and stated that over the radio. A few minutes of silence go by and one of them says they've spoken to a neighbor and the owner of that house died just over a year ago, there's nobody in the house, and the family has been trying to sell it. They were also not aware of any phones that were connected... as far as they knew, the house was completely empty.
Isn't that just STRANGE? Kinda freaked me out a bit.
To top all of that off... the whole night it's sounded like somebody was walking up and down the hallway, up and down stairs, or walking around the front lobby at random times throughout the shift. I've checked the cameras and physically looked in those areas I could get to without walking out of Dispatch and there was absolutely NOTHING there and all of the cops were out on the road. I thought maybe one of them might have sneaked in and is messing around... but what explains it when everybody I had on the road is out on a call?
Hiding in the corner,
Dispatcher 6
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
"There's a fire in the tunnel"
I love these calls.
We have this elderly resident who calls multiple times daily at alllllllll different times of the day to report stuff that really doesn't exist - to normal people.
First call - phone rings, her name comes up on Caller ID so I'm ready for a good bullshit call. There's nobody there. I can here her walking around, though. She does this quite often. I hang up and ignore it.
Second call - later in the night. All 4 guys on the road out at a disturbance call. Around midnight, maybe. Somebody told her to call the police because there's a fire in the tunnel at (insert address here). Then she hangs up. I told the Sgt and he got one of the guys from the disturbance call to break free. I didn't dispatch fire - I figured it's a small town. If there really was a fire, I'd have more calls on it... and besides, the cop would be there in a minute anyway. There was no fire. The resident at the address the caller gave has no idea of any tunnels. Fine. Clear - unfounded.
Third and final call - about 1:45 AM. Caller states there's a group of people on the street near her house trying to sell her house. She's got this whole story about how her house is listed for sale (which it's not) and continues to ramble the whole thing. She also stated, at some point in this mess of complete BS, that they should just lock him up, he's crazy. I'm just thinking to myself "haha, you say HE'S crazy?!" So I send one of the guys out on that one to talk to the caller and her family members that she lives with. Two of the other ones call out on the radio as if they were responding to a structure fire... "RECEIVED, SELLING HOUSE, ENROUTE!" They were just joking, of course, but I almost fell on the floor from laughing so hard... and I was still laughing at the fact that she said this person who's in the middle of the street is crazy.
So the one cop arrives with the Sgt (who's not happy about a THIRD call in one shift) and they said there's nobody in the streets. They go to talk to the caller (and her family) to figure out the situation. Her family members probably yelled at her a bit and must have unplugged her phone or something. Maybe they handed her one of those Barbie phones that talks to the person playing with it. Either way, she didn't call back the rest of the shift.
It's just rather entertaining sometimes. I guess it's better than the guy who calls to complain about STUPID shit like the ashes falling on his property.
Until next time,
I'll be putting out the fire in the tunnel...
Dispatcher 6
We have this elderly resident who calls multiple times daily at alllllllll different times of the day to report stuff that really doesn't exist - to normal people.
First call - phone rings, her name comes up on Caller ID so I'm ready for a good bullshit call. There's nobody there. I can here her walking around, though. She does this quite often. I hang up and ignore it.
Second call - later in the night. All 4 guys on the road out at a disturbance call. Around midnight, maybe. Somebody told her to call the police because there's a fire in the tunnel at (insert address here). Then she hangs up. I told the Sgt and he got one of the guys from the disturbance call to break free. I didn't dispatch fire - I figured it's a small town. If there really was a fire, I'd have more calls on it... and besides, the cop would be there in a minute anyway. There was no fire. The resident at the address the caller gave has no idea of any tunnels. Fine. Clear - unfounded.
Third and final call - about 1:45 AM. Caller states there's a group of people on the street near her house trying to sell her house. She's got this whole story about how her house is listed for sale (which it's not) and continues to ramble the whole thing. She also stated, at some point in this mess of complete BS, that they should just lock him up, he's crazy. I'm just thinking to myself "haha, you say HE'S crazy?!" So I send one of the guys out on that one to talk to the caller and her family members that she lives with. Two of the other ones call out on the radio as if they were responding to a structure fire... "RECEIVED, SELLING HOUSE, ENROUTE!" They were just joking, of course, but I almost fell on the floor from laughing so hard... and I was still laughing at the fact that she said this person who's in the middle of the street is crazy.
So the one cop arrives with the Sgt (who's not happy about a THIRD call in one shift) and they said there's nobody in the streets. They go to talk to the caller (and her family) to figure out the situation. Her family members probably yelled at her a bit and must have unplugged her phone or something. Maybe they handed her one of those Barbie phones that talks to the person playing with it. Either way, she didn't call back the rest of the shift.
It's just rather entertaining sometimes. I guess it's better than the guy who calls to complain about STUPID shit like the ashes falling on his property.
Until next time,
I'll be putting out the fire in the tunnel...
Dispatcher 6
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
"Headquarters, I'll have a 39..."
"... Scratch that, in foot pursuit! Get a rig and medics!"
So this unlicensed Mexican, who I'm betting is illegal, was speeding down a road in town, one of the cops turns his lights on and apparently freaks this guy out or something. He hits a nice new Lexus, a telephone pole, and the front of a restaurant. Then jumps out and starts running. Turns out he was drunk, too.
This was at about 1:30 in the morning. As of the time I left at 6 in the morning, they were STILL working on the pole that was hanging by the wires. It finally got cleaned up around 2 in the afternoon.
Apparently the hospital also wanted to keep him for x-rays and stuff, too. Not sure when we're getting him back and I highly doubt he'll show up for court. The driver and the owner of the vehicle were written a NICE number of tickets though! I hope he does come in for court, he's in for a world of shit.
Apparently this restaurant has a nice recessed brick front end now. Haven't seen it yet... last time I went by, the road was still closed. Sucked for morning traffic, I assume. That's a busy area.
I'm also surprised it didn't knock the power out in town. That would have been kind of funny to have a borough-wide power outage for a third day in a row.
Clear and Unavailable
Dispatcher 6
So this unlicensed Mexican, who I'm betting is illegal, was speeding down a road in town, one of the cops turns his lights on and apparently freaks this guy out or something. He hits a nice new Lexus, a telephone pole, and the front of a restaurant. Then jumps out and starts running. Turns out he was drunk, too.
This was at about 1:30 in the morning. As of the time I left at 6 in the morning, they were STILL working on the pole that was hanging by the wires. It finally got cleaned up around 2 in the afternoon.
Apparently the hospital also wanted to keep him for x-rays and stuff, too. Not sure when we're getting him back and I highly doubt he'll show up for court. The driver and the owner of the vehicle were written a NICE number of tickets though! I hope he does come in for court, he's in for a world of shit.
Apparently this restaurant has a nice recessed brick front end now. Haven't seen it yet... last time I went by, the road was still closed. Sucked for morning traffic, I assume. That's a busy area.
I'm also surprised it didn't knock the power out in town. That would have been kind of funny to have a borough-wide power outage for a third day in a row.
Clear and Unavailable
Dispatcher 6
Thursday, February 7, 2008
"911 Can I fix your computer?"
I know, it's a stupid title, but I couldn't think of anything better. I've been awake too many hours already.
Anyway. I was a computer tech for 6 years. I'm slowly starting to wonder why in hell I chose quit my job with a public school system 40 miles away with damn good benefits and nobody watching over my shoulder constantly to be a dispatcher for a small town all of 2 miles away where they seem to look at their dispatchers as cheap shit only there to answer the phone when it rings. I like the majority of the people on my shift... not that there's many on my shift. 3 or 4 people usually, including myself. Sometimes 5 when we're lucky, but that's not often. The only thing that REALLY sucks about dispatching more than anything else. The fact that, hmm, how can I put this... I smoke like a fucking chimney. It's not that easy to get out when I really want that cigarette. I guess it's a good thing that most of the guys on the road are qualified on the desk. I should also probably mention that I dispatch by myself.
Time to start the job hunt, I think. I'm not going to go crazy looking for something, but I'll at least keep an eye out if something interesting comes across. I'm having fun with what I'm doing now. The best part about it right now is that I'm on third shift and none of the brass is around. While I do have a Sgt. around, he's still cool so I don't have a problem there.
Once again,
Clear and Unavailable
Dispatcher 6
Anyway. I was a computer tech for 6 years. I'm slowly starting to wonder why in hell I chose quit my job with a public school system 40 miles away with damn good benefits and nobody watching over my shoulder constantly to be a dispatcher for a small town all of 2 miles away where they seem to look at their dispatchers as cheap shit only there to answer the phone when it rings. I like the majority of the people on my shift... not that there's many on my shift. 3 or 4 people usually, including myself. Sometimes 5 when we're lucky, but that's not often. The only thing that REALLY sucks about dispatching more than anything else. The fact that, hmm, how can I put this... I smoke like a fucking chimney. It's not that easy to get out when I really want that cigarette. I guess it's a good thing that most of the guys on the road are qualified on the desk. I should also probably mention that I dispatch by myself.
Time to start the job hunt, I think. I'm not going to go crazy looking for something, but I'll at least keep an eye out if something interesting comes across. I'm having fun with what I'm doing now. The best part about it right now is that I'm on third shift and none of the brass is around. While I do have a Sgt. around, he's still cool so I don't have a problem there.
Once again,
Clear and Unavailable
Dispatcher 6
Headquarters, I'll be out with a fight...
... involving 5 Mexicans on Prospect.
That was JUST what I wanted to hear an hour and a half after my shift started. NOT. What sucked even more is that I only had 3 cars on the road - 2 of which were on a traffic stop across town. Good thing the town is rather small. Interesting part of the whole event - the one guy who got the shit kicked out of him is the one that ran! They never did find him, but they did arrest the other four... and one of them smelled like a nasty combination of dog, elephant, and maybe even horse and goat shit combined... maybe some rotten eggs, too, for good measure. As soon has he walked in the door, I could smell him across the building. Then one of the guys starts spraying Glade French Vanilla. Great. Picture a 3 year old hard boiled egg with french vanilla cool whip on top. Yeah, pretty similar. Turns out not one of them were legal. Odd part is... they were just released with a court date. Now, who thinks they'll show up for court?
Until next time,
Clear and Unavailable
Dispatcher 6
That was JUST what I wanted to hear an hour and a half after my shift started. NOT. What sucked even more is that I only had 3 cars on the road - 2 of which were on a traffic stop across town. Good thing the town is rather small. Interesting part of the whole event - the one guy who got the shit kicked out of him is the one that ran! They never did find him, but they did arrest the other four... and one of them smelled like a nasty combination of dog, elephant, and maybe even horse and goat shit combined... maybe some rotten eggs, too, for good measure. As soon has he walked in the door, I could smell him across the building. Then one of the guys starts spraying Glade French Vanilla. Great. Picture a 3 year old hard boiled egg with french vanilla cool whip on top. Yeah, pretty similar. Turns out not one of them were legal. Odd part is... they were just released with a court date. Now, who thinks they'll show up for court?
Until next time,
Clear and Unavailable
Dispatcher 6
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Send an officer, please
I just randomly thought of this one...
A while back I got a call from a resident requesting an officer because there were ashes or something falling on his property. At least this wasn't on 911, he would have gotten the non-emergency button. He wasn't sure if they were ashes or not, but he wanted an officer there. Now what exactly do you expect us to do about this particular situation? I can't just let it go and not send anybody, he WILL come in and complain that we're not doing our job. And... if it takes to long to get an officer there, he'll call and complain. Just out of shits and giggles, I turned up the volume on the county fire band and heard that there was a decent sized brush fire in another town not too far away. I guess I should mention that it was pretty windy that day. The wind was blowing the ashes and he happened to be in the path. If it starts a fire on your property, fine, I'll send the fire department. As far as "stuff" falling from the sky, there's not a damn thing we can do. I'm sure as hell not putting a tarp over your property.
Now that I've gotten that random call across, I thought of something quick and stupid.
Around the same time, probably within the same week, I got a call - over the 911 line - with an elderly female stating there's a squirrel up on the power lines. Um. Non-emergency. She listens to the non-emergency message AND CALLS BACK OVER 911!!! Needless to say, she got the non-emergency button again, and didn't call back that time.
FYI for those who don't know - as far as I know, all of New Jersey has a button on their 911 console called "Non-Emergency" which, when pressed, dials a voicemail-like message that basically says the call is not an emergency, 911 is for emergencies only, and to contact your local police department at their regular number. Of course, it doesn't give the regular number of the local police department.
Until next time,
Clear and Unavailable
Dispatcher 6
A while back I got a call from a resident requesting an officer because there were ashes or something falling on his property. At least this wasn't on 911, he would have gotten the non-emergency button. He wasn't sure if they were ashes or not, but he wanted an officer there. Now what exactly do you expect us to do about this particular situation? I can't just let it go and not send anybody, he WILL come in and complain that we're not doing our job. And... if it takes to long to get an officer there, he'll call and complain. Just out of shits and giggles, I turned up the volume on the county fire band and heard that there was a decent sized brush fire in another town not too far away. I guess I should mention that it was pretty windy that day. The wind was blowing the ashes and he happened to be in the path. If it starts a fire on your property, fine, I'll send the fire department. As far as "stuff" falling from the sky, there's not a damn thing we can do. I'm sure as hell not putting a tarp over your property.
Now that I've gotten that random call across, I thought of something quick and stupid.
Around the same time, probably within the same week, I got a call - over the 911 line - with an elderly female stating there's a squirrel up on the power lines. Um. Non-emergency. She listens to the non-emergency message AND CALLS BACK OVER 911!!! Needless to say, she got the non-emergency button again, and didn't call back that time.
FYI for those who don't know - as far as I know, all of New Jersey has a button on their 911 console called "Non-Emergency" which, when pressed, dials a voicemail-like message that basically says the call is not an emergency, 911 is for emergencies only, and to contact your local police department at their regular number. Of course, it doesn't give the regular number of the local police department.
Until next time,
Clear and Unavailable
Dispatcher 6
Friday, February 1, 2008
9-1-1 WHERE is your emergency?
OK... so I'm Matt, and I'm a 9-1-1 Police / Fire / EMS Dispatcher for a police department in New Jersey. I've been on the job for about 5 months. Before that, I was a computer technician for a number of years. Why I left the IT field... I have no idea. That's enough for the intro.
There's something that BUGS me at work. When the 911 phone rings, it's supposed to come up with a name, address, blah blah blah on the Automated Location Identification (ALI) screen. That's all fine and dandy, but what about when it's a cell phone? There are different "phases" of wireless phones. All of the newer phones are wireless phase 2 so it tries its best to show the location of the caller... well, actually, the phone. MOST of the time, the ALI screen will show phase 2 for a cell phone... giving me GPS coordinates. Let's get this straight now... if it gives me phase 1, I'm pretty much screwed for finding them unless they tell me. I can try to refresh the ALI information, but that doesn't always work. Anyway, so when it gives me GPS coordinates, I CAN'T DO ANYTHING WITH THEM! My computer aided dispatch (CAD) console doesn't have Internet access. How am I supposed to find out where these people are? I've been saying almost since I started we should get access to either Google Maps or Google Earth, but nothing has happened, and, as far as I know, nothing is in the works either. That's really not good, especially if it's from one of those deactivated phones that doesn't have service, but the caller can still dial 911. I can't call that number back. The only thing I can do is call a local town that actually has the ability to look up coordinates. That's not always accurate though. At one point I had 3 officers knocking on doors on an entire street. At least it wasn't a long street. I thought I heard something about a grant for agencies in the county to purchase equipment needed to get the location of wireless callers.
Anyway, that's enough complaining for the first post.
Clear and Unavailable
Dispatcher 6
There's something that BUGS me at work. When the 911 phone rings, it's supposed to come up with a name, address, blah blah blah on the Automated Location Identification (ALI) screen. That's all fine and dandy, but what about when it's a cell phone? There are different "phases" of wireless phones. All of the newer phones are wireless phase 2 so it tries its best to show the location of the caller... well, actually, the phone. MOST of the time, the ALI screen will show phase 2 for a cell phone... giving me GPS coordinates. Let's get this straight now... if it gives me phase 1, I'm pretty much screwed for finding them unless they tell me. I can try to refresh the ALI information, but that doesn't always work. Anyway, so when it gives me GPS coordinates, I CAN'T DO ANYTHING WITH THEM! My computer aided dispatch (CAD) console doesn't have Internet access. How am I supposed to find out where these people are? I've been saying almost since I started we should get access to either Google Maps or Google Earth, but nothing has happened, and, as far as I know, nothing is in the works either. That's really not good, especially if it's from one of those deactivated phones that doesn't have service, but the caller can still dial 911. I can't call that number back. The only thing I can do is call a local town that actually has the ability to look up coordinates. That's not always accurate though. At one point I had 3 officers knocking on doors on an entire street. At least it wasn't a long street. I thought I heard something about a grant for agencies in the county to purchase equipment needed to get the location of wireless callers.
Anyway, that's enough complaining for the first post.
Clear and Unavailable
Dispatcher 6
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