9-1-1 Gone Bad

Posted Fri Jun 6, 2008 in

Here is an analysis of a 911 call made by a business owner after finding a burglar in his business. Wife and I argued over the interchange between the businessman and the dispatcher. I think the dispatcher was way out of line. Wife thinks she was just doing her job. It was an interesting dialogue between the two of us.

Have I mentioned how much I love Wife? She’s an excellent counterpoint to me and offers balance I would not have if she were not in my life.

It’s easy to armchair quarterback an event ex post factor. So Wife took me to task for it. A number of errors were committed by both the caller and the dispatcher. There are several important things to learn from the incident, however. They are:

  1. Make the call
  2. Make it brief
  3. Give your name, location, description, and problem
  4. Give the description of the perp
  5. Leave the line open and ditch the phone
  6. Don’t spend time and attention on a discussion with the dispatcher
  7. Give your attention to the problem

It was a rough situation and ended much better than it might have. That’s a good thing.