How many times have you called 911 (or its equivalent?)

In My Humble Opinion
81

>10 times. I’ve called after witnessing a few car crashes (including my own). Have also called for debris and/or disabled vehicles in driving lanes so cops could come and either move the debris or park behind the disabled car with their lights on until a tow truck could arrive. Once also called after seeing a homeless man lie down in a snowbank a block away.

82

Yes. That’s what they ask you to do even here in Chicago, where there’s a lot worse shit going on. (I go to community policing meetings, and they basically encourage the citizenry to call 911 for most things.)

Here it is off the general non-emergency number (311) website for the City of Chicago:

Emphases mine.

83

In northern Virginia, a new mall had been built, and in celebration of the grand opening, Macys brought in one of the parade balloons. They installed Betty Boop on the roof, and all was well. That is, untill an afternoon thunderstorm popped up. I watched as Betty was whipped back and forth, and was worried she would be shredded. Then the restraints failed, and Betty started floating away. Winds were blowing more or less from the south, carrying her to the north. No big deal, except that it was the direction of the Potomac river, which airplanes follow while they are low and slow making approach to National Airport. It’s a fun ride (for a commercial airplane ride) and quite a lovely view.

I had visions of Betty Boop being sucked into a jet engine, and didn’t think any good would come of that. I figured that the air traffic controllers should know about it, but, hey, I didn’t have their number. I thought the 911 operators might be able to most quickly get word to them.

I started the call by asking them to not hang up on me untill I explained why I was concerned. They listened, put me on hold for 2 or 3 minutes, then came back and said they had passed the info to appropriate authorities.

84

My opinion about 911 is this: Better to call and find out it wasn’t needed than not call and something terrible happens (or doesn’t happen) as a result.

85

Technically once, by mistake. I was dialing a local number (916 area code) back when I had a landline and was living in Sacramento, and my finger slipped such that I pressed the ‘1’ twice. I tried to hang up before it connected but was too late, and they called back to check that I was okay.

86

As a supervisor at a 911 centre this pretty much matches what we want. Better you call if you are not sure if help is needed than not call and have something terrible happen.

See a horse wandering in the road? Call it in. You ever seen a car vs horse MVA? I’d much rather get an officer with a rope out there before a crash than have to find a large animal vet to put down a severely injured animal in the middle of the night.

Not sure if the smoke you see is a neighbor burning garbage or not? Call it in. Better the fire service gets there early enough to put out a brush fire with the water in their tanker than end up battling a 27 acre wildfire that is spreading in the wind.

87

I answered 1-3, but as I think back, it’s a lot more.

  1. I was robbed at gunpoint, and called the cops. The thieves only got $3.
  2. I had all of my tired slashed. For this and the previous incident, the cops said “that’s what you get for being in this neighborhood.” WTF? It was a bad part of town, but jeez.
  3. Called in about some kids throwing large debris onto the road at cars from a hidden spot in the woods next to the road.
  4. Called in that what looked to be a homeless woman was asleep or dead in the concrete median of a busy 8 lane road, in the middle of the Texas summer.
  5. Called in that my terminally ill husband had died (at home.) :frowning:
  6. Requested an ambulance for my 92 year old dad who lived with us. He had pushed his Life Alert button because he couldn’t get out of bed. I guess technically he called them. He died 5 days later. :frowning:

A few more times, for various cars that got stolen. I got them all back eventually, with damage.

88

That’s exactly what our police officers at the community policing meetings tell us. Basically, if you’re wondering if you should call 911, just call 911. This was very different than what I thought emergency services wanted, but since interacting with the police, I’ve learned that, yes, even if it’s just a suspicious person or neighbors yelling loudly, call it in. At least around here.

89

Forgot to add: at least 3 car accidents that I had to call the police for.