Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: mips!mips.com!rogerk@decwrl.dec.com (Roger B.A. Klorese) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Caller ID Saves A Life! Message-ID: Date: 17 Oct 89 21:33:10 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: "Roger B.A. Klorese" Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 33 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 458, message 3 of 10 In article johnl@esegue.segue. boston.ma.us writes: >Some of us left wing wackos who dislike the way that telcos are >introducing Caller ID think that 911 is a fine example of how Caller >ID should work. If you dial 911, your call gets IDed. If you dial >the cops' regular seven-digit number you don't get IDed. ...but in many areas it is difficult, if not impossible to reach an Emergency Services Dispatch Center with a seven-digit number. In Boston, for example, we were told that if we called the seven-digit number for the local police station, they could not guarantee emergency response. ROGER B.A. KLORESE MIPS Computer Systems, Inc. phone: +1 408 720-2939 928 E. Arques Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 rogerk@mips.COM {ames,decwrl,pyramid}!mips!rogerk "I want to live where it's always Saturday." -- Guadalcanal Diary [Moderator's Note: But the theory is, if you have a dire emergency -- which is the *only* valid reason for calling 911 -- then you obviously will want the police/fire/paramedic people to be able to immediatly locate you with your emergency circumstances. If all you want to do is call 911 to snitch on your neighbors, or report your car stolen, these are not *emergency* problems, and you should be using the seven digit administrative number. Here in Chicago a huge number of calls to 911 are not *emergencies* at all, but simple complaints or requests to file police reports, etc. 911 is only to be used when *immediate* intervention is required to save a life or report a crime in progress, or a fire going on *now*, etc. And for those conditions, how could anyone object to being immediatly identified and assisted? PT]