911 response time to a B&E with kids at home? 90 Minutes

This isnt some rural backwater in the middle of nowhere.

A father in Windham asked state police Wednesday why it took them an hour and a half to respond to his children's call for help.
...
"My daughter called 911 from the tub, said that there was a break-in," said Quick. "He called 911. I called 911. My father called 911. No one showed up for an hour and a half."

link

It takes less time to drive across the entire state.

While CT residents stand in line to register their firearms or surrender them outright the police response time doesnt exactly inspire confidence in the newly disarmed.

Just lay back and make the best of your assault, robbery or rape and in an hour or so Officer Friendly will be by to berate you and sigh and huff while he begrudgingly takes a half-assed report. It's your fault he's giving you attitude. You interrrupted his nap.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

They can pass laws limiting our ability to protect ourselves.
They have no responsibility to protect us though. The courts have ruled that way.

Sad, isn't it?

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Not defending them because that is terrible, I work for the NHS and part of my job is to dispatch Ambulances where necessary.

If it is a horrendously busy night, we get told a colour code by the Ambulance services on how bad the wait time will be. At the end of the day there are only so many Ambulances/Police Cars/Fire Engines, these people are monitored on their response time, it wouldn't have been purposeful.

EDIT: In the year that I have worked for the service, this emergency colour code system has only been used twice in my county. Before the NHS bashers come swooping in...

reply to post by butcherguy


The SCOTUS ruling aside it was never possible for the police to protect anyone ever. I mean, simple awareness of reality will tell you that even with a cop right next to you 24/7 harm against you cannot be prevented.

And still too many people believe with full faith and conviction that that's what the police do.

They never have performed that function and they never could even if they wanted to.

I find it hard to believe anyone thinks they can rely on police for safety. Have they not lived more than a few years in order to understand reality.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


And yet when someone gets pulled over there are 15 cop cars within 2 minutes.


F-T-P

reply to post by iRoyalty


I'm sure it wasnt on purpose but that doesnt make anything better. It's simple reality that cops cannot protect you from harm, medics may or may not arrive in time, fire departments may or may not arrive in time.

Too many people go around believing just the opposite. That if they call 911 the calvary will drop everything and come running to save them. This is not reality.

These entities are all reactionary.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

Yes, historically, the police have been there to show up after a crime has been committed and investigate. Sometimes they hunt down and apprehend the perps.
We shouldn't expect them to protect us, and I think any cop cars that have that motto (protect and serve) should strike the protect part out. They can serve us.... but mostly that is serving up a fine for not wearing seat belts, speeding or parking irregularly.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Yeah don't worry, I agree it is terrible, but there is always two sides to every coin.

HandyDandy
reply to post by thisguyrighthere

 

And yet when someone gets pulled over there are 15 cop cars within 2 minutes.


F-T-P

This is far too true... I posted a video not long a go of a guy being arrested for a parking violation and getting beaten, that had about 20 cop cars and sounded like a helicopter too...

There is something very wrong with the way we do things in this 'civilised' world.

reply to post by iRoyalty

This is far too true... I posted a video not long a go of a guy being arrested for a parking violation and getting beaten, that had about 20 cop cars and sounded like a helicopter too...

So true, even the video with the guy getting arrested for biking on the sidewalk they had several cars to handle the "struggle"

thisguyrighthere

Just lay back and make the best of your assault, robbery or rape and in an hour or so Officer Friendly will be by to berate you and sigh and huff while he begrudgingly takes a half-assed report. It's your fault he's giving you attitude. You interrrupted his nap.

I can tell you from experience there are two faster ways to get a cop to your house.

One, when the dispatcher says "It may take a few minutes", tell them, "Never mind then, I'll take care of it myself". This has worked WONDERS for me the last two times. Of course, I was serious at the time and had dealt with the issue in my own unsocial way by the time they got there, but it sure got them there a lot faster than the time quoted. I guess they frown on competition.

Two, I actually had a cop tell me (during an aftermath of taking care of it myself) "When you call and say someone's in your house with a gun, hell, I don't want to get shot either, so if I get dispatched to your house, I'm liable to take my time and let the guy finish and leave. If you want me to come as fast as possible, you should have said "I have a bunch of teenagers selling drugs in my front yard", and then when I get there, I'd find out differently"

I'd bet that would work, but I can't see the cops letting that one drop afterwards.

I've had to call the police several times for robberies. Every time after we were done with filling out reports, I've told myself what a waste of time.

The only thing that was ever recovered was my ex-girlfriends car. When it happened we gave the police the apartment number and names of those who knew about it based on our investigating. When it happened we didn't tell anyone yet a pain pill addicted young man who lived with his junky mom in our apartment complex knew about it, easy investigation for me and her, however the police we like 'we are the professionals, we know what we are doing, leave it to us.' It turned out someone who frequents that apartment was the thief and the car was recovered some 300miles away at an airport because the thief fell asleep in the car in a pick-up lane. Even though that thief had a very long record and the third time he was caught with a stolen car, he did less than a month and was free to go.

The justice system is broken in the US. Violent criminals and thieves often get a slap on the wrist, while those who get charges with things that should not even by a crime end up doing serious time.

iRoyalty
reply to post by thisguyrighthere

 

Not defending them because that is terrible, I work for the NHS and part of my job is to dispatch Ambulances where necessary.

If it is a horrendously busy night, we get told a colour code by the Ambulance services on how bad the wait time will be. At the end of the day there are only so many Ambulances/Police Cars/Fire Engines, these people are monitored on their response time, it wouldn't have been purposeful.

EDIT: In the year that I have worked for the service, this emergency colour code system has only been used twice in my county. Before the NHS bashers come swooping in...

edit on 24-1-2014 by iRoyalty because: (no reason given)

Yes you are defending...
It would seem a child calling for help would be a priority call.

Bedlam

thisguyrighthere

Just lay back and make the best of your assault, robbery or rape and in an hour or so Officer Friendly will be by to berate you and sigh and huff while he begrudgingly takes a half-assed report. It's your fault he's giving you attitude. You interrrupted his nap.

I can tell you from experience there are two faster ways to get a cop to your house.

One, when the dispatcher says "It may take a few minutes", tell them, "Never mind then, I'll take care of it myself". This has worked WONDERS for me the last two times. Of course, I was serious at the time and had dealt with the issue in my own unsocial way by the time they got there, but it sure got them there a lot faster than the time quoted. I guess they frown on competition.

Two, I actually had a cop tell me (during an aftermath of taking care of it myself) "When you call and say someone's in your house with a gun, hell, I don't want to get shot either, so if I get dispatched to your house, I'm liable to take my time and let the guy finish and leave. If you want me to come as fast as possible, you should have said "I have a bunch of teenagers selling drugs in my front yard", and then when I get there, I'd find out differently"

I'd bet that would work, but I can't see the cops letting that one drop afterwards.

Than I guess saying "I have a bunch of young college women here heading outside, and they won't put their close back on," would be the best way to go.

Char-Lee
Yes you are defending...
It would seem a child calling for help would be a priority call.

No I was not, read my next post after that...

I like to play devils advocate and having a balanced outlook on life means I can be fair to as many people as possible.

Show me the point where I said "Stop being horrible to those policemen who left a child in danger" and then I will show you the part where all I said is that emergency services can get massively overrun and it is not predictable (usually), how do you know there wasn't several other children in more serious danger, like a hostage situation? You don't and you can't assume.

iRoyalty

Char-Lee
Yes you are defending...
It would seem a child calling for help would be a priority call.

No I was not, read my next post after that...

I like to play devils advocate and having a balanced outlook on life means I can be fair to as many people as possible.

Show me the point where I said "Stop being horrible to those policemen who left a child in danger" and then I will show you the part where all I said is that emergency services can get massively overrun and it is not predictable (usually), how do you know there wasn't several other children in more serious danger, like a hostage situation? You don't and you can't assume.

edit on 24-1-2014 by iRoyalty because: (no reason given)

Fair is good, balanced is good

But this is a defense so call it as it is.

At the end of the day there are only so many Ambulances/Police Cars/Fire Engines, these people are monitored on their response time, it wouldn't have been purposeful.

I wonder.. for those who say 90 minutes to children in the middle of a burglary in progress is explainable in any way....would it be because nothing actually happened here to cause a tragic outcome?

If these kids were brutalized and murdered in those 90 minutes, as happens too often to bother linking to for examples, would it be as easy to brush off dispatch times and manpower issues?

I think it's perfectly understandable to put a Burglary call into the low priority hopper ...UNLESS there are innocent people INSIDE the place being hit. Then it's not a burglary anymore, in my view, but human beings at direct risk of being victimized or killed.

I think it's inexcusable and this level of outrage would have me attending some city meetings and insuring at least one voice was heard VERY loudly and VERY clearly for just HOW unacceptable I found it. Not much would get me to make a public stand in my community with everything else I have on my plate right now ...but some things transcend issues of time and convenience...like kids in the middle of a crime scene still being made.

butcherguy
reply to post by thisguyrighthere

 

They can pass laws limiting our ability to protect ourselves.
They have no responsibility to protect us though. The courts have ruled that way.

Sad, isn't it?

Very true! It goes something like this. "The police have no obligation to protect you, just society as a whole" is what the courts ruled long ago.
Firepiston

That's ridiculous but I was told that a cops job isn't to protect you its to bring criminals to justice. So after someone commits a crime their job is to apprehend you and bring evidence to the DA. Not to save your life. Also they are mobile tax collectors. Called one that once he wasn't too happy. Fact is cops give cops bad names. Although this situation is ridiculous it is on par with what I went through.

I was 13 years old and 4 people were trying to break into my house. I had no idea who it was. I called the cops while they were ramming into the door. Trying the back sliding door and trying to get in through the windows. The cops show up 3 guys run 1 gets caught and he says he was just going to break into my house and beat me up. The guys 17 almost 18. They tell me I need to handle it myself and leave.

Should I have shot the first one through the door? I owned a rifle. I believe it was within my rights to do so. So instead of arresting someone for breaking the law they rather I murder someone at the ripe ole age of 13.

I am as serious as a heart attack. Elk City police department Oklahoma. If that's cop hate then I hate cops. Never had a good experience with one. Every single one I have come across tries to put you in jail, intimidate you or just downright screw you over.

reply to post by roadgravel


I totally agree.

With some of the threads I've read lately, I think I'd take my chances with the intruder than calling for the cops to come.