This will make you MAD!!!!

[mechanic]

The girl was to blame for how it went. The cop should have been big enough to do his job not worry about swearing but we don't know how many prank calls he got that week, or that day.

If this situation is to be avoided again then teenagers should be trained in how to relay an important message without threatening to sue the people they want help from. I dont blame the cop at all, I feel sorry for him that this will hurt his carear so badly. Stupid little girl doesn't even care that her tantrum will cost a man and his familly their lively hood.

[CAP1]

The girl was to blame for how it went. The cop should have been big enough to do his job not worry about swearing but we don't know how many prank calls he got that week, or that day.

If this situation is to be avoided again then teenagers should be trained in how to relay an important message without threatening to sue the people they want help from. I dont blame the cop at all, I feel sorry for him that this will hurt his carear so badly. Stupid little girl doesn't even care that her tantrum will cost a man and his familly their lively hood.

it doesn't matter how many prank calls he got.


between unsolicited sales calls, having machines call, prank calls, i get on average 10+ a day. yet each and every time i pick up the phone, i remain professional, and courteous. even if i just had to climb out from under a car that i'm working on.

 i know i don't have the kinds of pressures those guys do, but i am under constant pressure. as i've said before, they need to be held to a higher standard, as they are depended on.

 imagine had he not yelled back at her. do you not think he may have been able to calm her down, as he was transferring the call? i'd bet hearing some friendly, reassuring words from him(which i think is part of their job) would've calmed her right down.

 she was wrong, but too your to realize it. he was more wrong.

[mechanic]

The second time she called she had a chance to say

'Hey, im sorry for swearing, i need help, my father is dying on the floor here'

Instead she threatened to sue the officer and cursed some more. Her arrogance and over inflated sense of importance could have cost her father's life. Considering every phone call is logged, then the cop knew it was her calling back the second and third times, yet he still picked up and gave her a chance to explain the emergency clearly.

Yeah the cop was not perfect at all, but civies need training how to handle an emergency before an officer loses his life's work over this.

[Vudak]

The girl was to blame for how it went. The cop should have been big enough to do his job not worry about swearing but we don't know how many prank calls he got that week, or that day.

If this situation is to be avoided again then teenagers should be trained in how to relay an important message without threatening to sue the people they want help from. I dont blame the cop at all, I feel sorry for him that this will hurt his carear so badly. Stupid little girl doesn't even care that her tantrum will cost a man and his familly their lively hood.

The girl could have been doing her best Linda Blair impression and swearing in long-dead languages.  He still should have taken her seriously from the start.

The first thing he does after picking up is admonish her language...  Deal with that after, if ever.  If someone is calling 911, and they are swearing, you'd better find out why before you try to give them a lesson in civility.

This guy 100% should never be on dispatch again.

[mechanic]

fair enough, I am here to give my opinon and hear others.


It sickens me when someone threatens to sue another person so quickly. Makes me think this girl was a spoilt little brat. Makes me feel huge admiration for the men and women who man a telephone all day just to protect these morons knowing that AS SOON as they make one mistake after a perfect 20 year record, someone will try to get money out of it.

[Vudak]

fair enough, I am here to give my opinon and hear others.


It sickens me when someone threatens to sue another person so quickly. Makes me think this girl was a spoilt little brat. Makes me feel huge admiration for the men and women who man a telephone all day just to protect these morons knowing that AS SOON as they make one mistake after a perfect 20 year record, someone will try to get money out of it.

Batfinkv...  The girl was so distressed and mindboggled that the guy wouldn't help her, that she DROVE to the station to try and get some assistance.  I can't even fathom having to do that.

If her father didn't survive, or was injured because of this, that is a very, very legitimate lawsuit. 

[mechanic]

agree to disagree mate
 

[Vudak]

agree to disagree mate
 

Works for me, but allow me to put it in a different light:

My girlfriend works as a nanny.  Suppose she was taking the kids to the pool, had her back turned for a moment, and heard "Help! Help! %*&#! Help!" and then, without turning around to see what the problem was, started admonishing the kid for swearing?

She'd be dragged through the streets, fired, possibly sued, and rightfully so!

I see this as a similar situation. 

[CAP1]

The second time she called she had a chance to say

'Hey, im sorry for swearing, i need help, my father is dying on the floor here'

Instead she threatened to sue the officer and cursed some more. Her arrogance and over inflated sense of importance could have cost her father's life. Considering every phone call is logged, then the cop knew it was her calling back the second and third times, yet he still picked up and gave her a chance to explain the emergency clearly.

Yeah the cop was not perfect at all, but civies need training how to handle an emergency before an officer loses his life's work over this.

from the sounds of it, he didn't. he jumped down her throat every time.

she was in panic. people do some screwed up stuff when they go into panic mode. if she'd never dealt with that situation before, then she was probably past "panic" into "babble" aproaching "plaid", and having never dealt with that type of situation before, started saying anyting she might have thought would get the dude off his butt.

 so ya know....i do respect your opinion dude..........just tossin mine out there too.  

[mechanic]

Twenty years of perfect record. That is almost your or my whole life so far, dedicated to looking after idiots without a single mistake.

To your example, if the kid threatened to sue the nanny if she did not turn round, she would probably think the kid was messing around. That is the mistake of the girl. She had time to threaten to sue the officer (something i expect they hear alot) but she did not have the time or the sense to say 'my father is dying'.
Come on.


edit: just read your cap, and I cannot argue with the point you or vudak makes. What I can try to do is shed a different perspective on the situation. Try looking from the officer's point of view. I accept he made a mistake. I think the civillian made many more and far worse mistakes.

All opinions are valid untill someone gets angry

[Vudak]

Twenty years of perfect record. That is almost your or my whole life so far, dedicated to looking after idiots without a single mistake.

To your example, if the kid threatened to sue the nanny if she did not turn round, she would probably think the kid was messing around. That is the mistake of the girl. She had time to threaten to sue the officer (something i expect they hear alot) but she did not have the time or the sense to say 'my father is dying'.
Come on.

I'm not saying she handled it perfectly, but I do think she handled it in a way I'd reasonably expect from a panic-stricken 17 year old girl.  I don't think the officer handled it anywhere near a way I'd reasonably expect out of a 20-year vet.

Also, I'm not necessarily advocating he should be fired.  I do believe he should never be allowed to work overtime in dispatch again, as he clearly can not handle it professionally.  In that position, he is responsible for life and death, and he dropped the ball on that one.

Let's not forget, this entire incident started because a person calling 911 (an emergency line) dropped a bad word, and the "professional" on the other end decided it was more pressing to admonish her for that than to ascertain what the emergency was.

Edit - no anger here for the record - just enjoying the first day of cable internet at work after 9 years of having nothing

[spacer]

I agree with all the posts in this thread.  The girl was wrong for cussing.  (Understandable due to the situation)  The cop was wrong for loosing his Professionalism, when a distressed person was calling the Emergency services.

but civies need training how to handle an emergency before an officer loses his life's work over this.

Just who and how are the communities going to train EVERY Civilian to handle an emergency?
Who is going to Pay for the location and Instructors time?

 (I had to do something like this WITHOUT 911, imagine my frustration when they kept asking what police district I was in!  I was in the 7th grade!)

[mechanic]

mmmm cable  *drools*  


You're right about him handling it very poorly for his experience. I agree also with what you say about him taking more free time and working less hours.  The girl was more keen to announce that she now had a right to sue someone than to blurt out her father's condition. Then in the following calls she still totaly fails to mention any type of emergency and appears to be just wasting their time. To someone with 20 years experience this feels exactly like a textbook prank call. The biggest mistake he made was jumping on her for swearing

Young adults need training on how to report an emergency efficiently. That is the bottom line for me.

Spacer: at the very least, we could all try to increase public awareness in this situation instead of just wrecking one man's livelyhood, paying a teenager some cash and considering the problem dealt with.

[Vudak]

mmmm cable  *drools*  


You're right about him handling it very poorly for his experience. I agree also with what you say about him taking more free time and working less hours.  The girl was more keen to announce that she now had a right to sue someone than to blurt out her father's condition. Then in the following calls she still totaly fails to mention any type of emergency and appears to be just wasting their time. To someone with 20 years experience this feels exactly like a textbook prank call. The biggest mistake he made was jumping on her for swearing

Young adults need training on how to report an emergency efficiently. That is the bottom line for me.

Spacer: at the very least, we could all try to increase public awareness in this situation instead of just wrecking one man's livelyhood, paying a teenager some cash and considering the problem dealt with.

Fair enough.  In my town, at least, I expect when someone cries "Wolf!" that the cavalry will be dispatched ASAP, and we can sort out if the creature was imaginary later.  She did ask for an ambulance, repeatedly.  I would have been inclined to ask why she wanted that before I asked why she was swearing.

[Die Hard]

The officer could in fact be guilty of several crimes. Dereliction of duty, reckless endangerment, falsifying reports, misleading emergency personnel... I'm betting he's looking at jail time for this idiocy.