My town is really on the ball.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

In calling a wrecking yard yesterday I fumbled the number, stopped everything and started over from scratch this time getting the correct number. During the aborted attempt I heard some funny clicks and squeals.

Anyway, right after I hung up from talking to the wrecking yard my phone rang and the caller ID said it was from the city govt. When I answere the woman said she was the 911 operator and did I just call. I said no and she came back that my name, etc. was on her screen. So I explained my botched attempt and assured her that there was no problem. We parted as dear friends.

About 5 min. or so later the doorbell rang so I opened the door. Standing in a sort of half-hidden spot around the corner from the door was a cop. He asked about the 911 call and I told him that it was a mistake and the operator had been so informed. He asked if he could come in and I said sure, so entered warily and looked around. It was obvious he wanted to make sure that I wasn’t covered by someone and being forced to say that everything was OK.

I thanked him for following up and he left.

2

Funny…I was just reading this http://www.snopes.com/crime/dumdum/911.asp

on Snopes the other day.

So, I take it in this case the DIDN’T find your meth lab :smiley: ?

3

When I became oriented enough after my car accident to call 911, it rang busy. Twice.

4

Sorta-same thing happened to me about 10 years ago. Rang up a restaurant and the line was busy. Couple minutes later, I hit redial and the call is anwered by a 911 operator. The digits 9, 1 and 1 are in the restaurant’s number, but not even all together, so I have no idea what happened.

5

The only time I’ve called the operator responded with, “Are you calling about the brushfire by the SuchandSuch offramp?” I was, as it happened, but it was kind of a surprising greeting.

6

Were you on a cell phone? I can’t speak for all agencies, but at the one I worked at (before I WALKED THE HELL OUT week before last! Wheeee!) if someone dialed 911 on a cell phone it didn’t come in on the 911 line. It came in on one of the two sheriff’s department lines, unless they were both tied up, in which case the caller got a busy signal.

7

It’s the same here. If 911 gets a call they send people out just in case. Even with a no need call.

I think it’s a good idea.

8

Yup, cell phone it was. I didn’t have the energy to get up and run to the nearest pay phone, otherwise I might have recreated that great scene from Bowfinger when Eddie Murphy’s character dashes across 8 or so lanes of traffic.

Luckily, fire station was a few minutes away. I kept thinking Mark Wahlberg would ride up on his bicycle and save me (OK, another movie reference, sorry). But they sent the LADDER truck to my accident, which seems a bit overdone. I guess they never know when they’ll need the big ladder these days.

9

I once dialed 911 when I meant to dial 411. I realized right away what I had done, and I stayed on the line to tell the operator that it had been a mistake. The police didn’t come out.

Thank goodness…I never would gotten the crack hidden in time

10

Shoulda been a “have” in there somewhere…I need to lay off the crack.

11

Two years ago when I was living in an old, not-very-secure, two story house in the boonies, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of thumping on the front porch. Both the front and back door had glass windows which could easily be broken in addition to locks that didn’t really lock that well.

It was just me and my then 6yr old daughter asleep upstairs.

I had just started using a cellphone as my only phone and unfortunately didn’t get reliable reception at this house. Downstairs in the kitchen was usually the best spot. The kitchen walls were mainly comprised of uncovered windows. Not the most inconspicous spot to make a call for help.

thump

thump

Back and forth for what felt like hours. Part of me thought it might just be an animal stuck under the porch. But the bottom of the porch was securely, screened in with lattice.

thump

THUMP

Indescernible vocal sounds.

Filled with fear, but dreading looking like a fool, I call 911. No reception. After stealthily moving all around the room, I finally find a spot where I can make a call - so I called again. Apologizing profusely, I relay the situation, my fear and possible rationalization to the operator.

Five minutes later I hear movement in the bushes on the side of the house. The person moves slowly, but steadily, circling the house. The screen door on the porch opens and shuts.

thump

thump

My heart firmly lodged in my throat, I grab my dearly departed mother’s wooden billy cub. She had kept this under her bed from the time my brother’s and I were just babes until her death. Precisely for situations such as this. Creeping to the top of the stairs I see a shadow* on the living room floor.

Suddenly a beam of light shines through the glass. The door handle rattles.

crunch I never knew the sound of tires on a gravel road could be so heavenly.

Turns out the guy on the porch was a cop. They had been in the area on patrol when I called in which is why they could respond so quickly. One of the cops had approached on foot in order to surprise the possible intruder with the other cop following in the car with the headlights off for the same reason.

When they looked through the window and saw the disarray my living room (I had started cleaning out a couple closests and stuff was all over the floor) they insisted on coming in to make sure that we were alright and noone was holding a gun to my head. They also took the time to check out the gardens* surrounding the house and the two next door neighboors (one of the houses was vacant and the terrain provided excellent hiding spots. They also checked under the porch to see if anything was under there.

Of course they didn’t find anything. One of the officers thought that maybe a stray animal had gotten on the porch and was making the noise. I felt like such a paranoid fool, especially since they went through so much effort to check out the surrounding area. But they were very kind and understanding.

It wasn’t until I was ready to move a few months later that I found out the reason the cops were patrolling the area was because there had been a lot of drug activity about a mile down the road. And that my landlord - who lived in the house next door during the summer and occasionally in the winter - had been informing on the neighbors. Who weren’t very happy with her.

The cops were fantastic though - from then on they made sure to include my house in their patrol area, just in case.

*The front porch had a motion detector light which came on when the cop entered the porch, causing him to cast a shadow through the door window. The landlord, when she purchased the house many moons ago, had landscaped half of the yard as a formal garden with paths lined with hedges, fountains, ponds and statues. Pretty nicely done too.

12

I’ve responded to scores of 911 hang-up calls. If the caller convinces the 911 operator that everything is OK, they won’t send us. But unless they are really convinced, we’re dispatched to check it out.

The majority are from kids playing with the phone. I’ve had plenty that were real problems though, such as domestic violence calls. One was a murder-suicide (woman killed her 10-year old son, called 911 and hung up to get us on the way, then shot herself). So I never assume it will be a simple mistake.

13

I called 911 tonight because it sounded as though someone was getting the tar knocked out of them on the street below. While I was waiting for an operator, it calmed down outside and I hung up, feeling sheepish.

The operator called about thirty seconds later, and it had started up again. I stayed on the line and kept folks appraised of their whereabouts as the combatants wandered around until the cops showed up. Me and dozens of other people, apparently.

14

It was caused by the crack. Layoff while posting. :wink:

15

Before DSL, I used to solve a lot of “My computer is dialing 911” problems. Normal phone. 9 for outside line. 1 for area code. Then they typed the whole number in instead of the area code and number.