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From: sander@anet.ann-arbor.mi.us (Sander J. Rabinowitz)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: 911 Botch-up in Detroit
Message-ID: <14512@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 7 Nov 90 06:21:47 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 803, Message 4 of 13


In a TELECOM article of 3 November 1990, woody <djcl@contact.uucp>
wrote the following:
 
> An Associated Press report mentioned an incident in Detroit where a
> girl (age 7) phoned 911 to report that her brother was being beaten.
> She was told by a 911 operator to "get off the phone" and her call was
> basically ignored. The operator's insistence that the girl hang up
> interfered with the girl's pleadings for assistance.
 
Readers of the original article know, of course, that the incident
ended quite tragically.  I believe that there are three other aspects
to this case which need to be mentioned.
 
(1) About one or two nights after the incident occured, I heard a
recording of the actual 911 call played over WKBD-TV (Detroit TV50).
In the first several seconds of the call, it appeared as though she
was asking for someone at the "Ten O'Clock News".  This fact alone
does not excuse the 911 operator, although I cannot help but wonder
how many Detroit 911 calls come from children playing with the phone,
and whether the operator thought this may have been another such call.
 
(2) I don't believe Detroit's 911 system is one where the caller's
address is automatically relayed to the dispatcher -- in other words,
the caller would be required to calmly relay his/her location to the
operator.  This not only complicates efforts to send help quickly
(even a highly competant operator may not be able to get this
information out of a seven-year old in time), but increases the chance
that prank 911 calls may go through (since I suspect it would be more
difficult to pinpoint their source).
 
(3) (Disclaimer: This point is mostly speculative, but I don't believe
it's way off the mark) I think it would be safe to say that Detroit is
understaffed across the board insofar as emergency personnel is
concerned, and that the problem extends to 911 operators.
 
None of these points excuse the actions of the 911 operator, but I
believe they point to a much larger problem involving Detroit's
emergency services.  I also believe that if the status quo continues,
it's entirely possible that the above tradegy will repeat itself.
 
Note: The First Amendment and all relevant disclaimers apply.
 
 
Sander J. Rabinowitz    |    !sander@attmail.com | +1 313 478 6358
Farmington Hills, Mich. | --OR-- sjr@mcimail.com |       ***