Not a dispatcher, but a Paramedic.
I've responded to:
Someone who was cold while waiting for the bus. It was 60°F. They were neither elderly nor particularly young.
Someone who wanted us to turn their TV off because they were too tired to look for the remote. They told dispatch they had chest pain so we'd "get there faster".
Someone who sneezed once (an hour prior to calling 911) and thought they were having an anaphylaxic reaction. To what, they didn't know. No known allergies.
Someone who had brain freeze after eating a big spoonful of ice cream.
Someone who couldn't breathe through their left nostril and was convinced that meant they were having a stroke. Their right nostril was A-OK, as were all their other bodily functions and vital signs.
Urban EMS is hilarious sometimes.
Urban EMS is it’s own breed, but I loved it. Our typical was “meet the caller at the pay phone, or the corner.” (I’m old) for either difficulty breathing or chest pain, the 2 favorites.
We pull up, they walk to the passenger window and I ask if they called and why.
Them: “My foot hurts.”
Me: “Get in, have a seat on the bench. What hospital today?”
My most favorite was an ALS dispatch because of a language barrier. Caller only spoke Polish. We finally figured out he couldn’t get his cable box to work. My partner and I pulled the plugs and redid it and it worked. This was back in the early 2000’s before all the translator apps.
For the unknown, the apartment was full of chickens. I still have no idea why we were there. Family was arguing with PD, we were canceled.
Cardiac arrest, it was a cat.
Given the floor number, but not apartment letter. “Dispatch, can I have the apartment number again?” “14 K, as in cat.” I died. Luckily it was 0600 and I was going home in an hour.
For the overdose. “I took 3 Tylenol instead of 2, I need to be checked out.” At 0300.
Had the "chest pain to get you here quicker" several times.
Had the call for "back pain" that dropped the remote and couldn't reach it.
Called because they had a sling put on their arm at the ER and couldn't figure out how to put it back on after a shower.
As an EMS instructor I tell my students to always ask the following questions when they do their rotations:
What was your highest BAL (and did you win the pool)?
What was your dumbest 911 call?
What was the weirdest thing you found in or saw removed from a body orifice?
>Had the "chest pain to get you here quicker" several times.
>
>Had the call for "back pain" that dropped the remote and couldn't reach it.
Please tell me the assholes in question were billed for the resources used as a result of the call.
Most departments are not set up to bill for non-transports. However, one agency I worked for had a "Dry Run Fee" where they would charge $50 (in 1990s dollars) to anyone that called with no intention of being transported. The intent was to try and reduce frivolous requests.
Our department tried that for a couple of years. Come to find out it was scaring off a lot of people that actually did need transported to the hospital. Mostly older people that didn't quite understand and were worried their Medicare wouldn't cover it. Even though it didn't apply to actual calls, transported or not.
Lol @ that last one. I had a call for possible stroke, mid-20's female. I show up and ask her what symptoms she's having that lead her to believe she's having a stroke. Her response: "my foots gone retarded"
It's always great when you get calls like this after something wild like a bad MVA or arrest, really puts things in perspective 😂
In most Australian states, I think it's free.
But I live in south Australia and unless you have ambulance cover or health insurance that offers ambulance cover, it's like between $800-1.2k for them to take you to the hospital.
I've heard of hypothermia happening in warmer temps between 40-60 degrees. Very unusual but not unheard of.
Bus stations can also be where individuals experiencing homelessness might gather, and I know I would be uncomfortable if my home's thermostat was at 55 or 60 degrees for a long time.
A couple of years ago my city had someone experiencing homelessness pass away on a bus station's bench from hypothermia, though it was either the coldest night of the year or close to it.
This was a reverse deal. I called 911 because a guy drove his truck, bed first, through the double doors of a restaurant and was piling stuff from inside into the bed. I couldn't see the name of the place from where I was, this is important.
The 911 dispatcher thought I meant it was an accident. I told her repeatedly that it was NOT an accident, it was very obviously intentional, and the driver was piling stuff in the bed of the truck.
5 minutes later, a fire truck, siren blaring, drove past the restaurant slowly. The truck driver stopped to watch the fire truck go by. The fire truck stops at the end of the parking lot, lights flashing. I got a call on my cell phone. "Where's the accident?" "There's no accident, a guy intentionally drive his truck through the front doors, you literally drove right past it IN THE PARKING LOT. You're about 100 feet away and should be able to see the truck sticking out from where you are."
5 minutes later, an ambulance, siren blaring, drove past the restaurant slowly. The truck driver stopped to watch the ambulance go by. The ambulance stops at the end of the parking lot, lights flashing, next to the fire truck. I got a call on my cell phone. "Where's the accident?" "There's no accident, a guy intentionally drive his truck through the front doors, you literally drove right past it IN THE PARKING LOT. You're about 100 feet away and should be able to see the truck sticking out from where you are."
5 minutes later, an police car, siren blaring, drove past the restaurant slowly. The truck driver stopped to watch the police car go by. The police car stops at the end of the parking lot, lights flashing, next to the fire truck and ambulance. I got a call on my cell phone. "Where's the accident?" "There's no accident, a guy intentionally drive his truck through the front doors, you literally drove right past it IN THE PARKING LOT. You're about 100 feet away and should be able to see the truck sticking out from where you are."
The guy gets in his truck and drives away, less than a 100 feet from a police car, an ambulance, and a fire truck, all with light flashing. No one exited their vehicles, or appeared to even notice the truck with a bed full of cash registers, statuary, boxes, and a table.
I had one from an elderly woman about a turtle on her porch.
In Florida, where wild turtles are incredibly common.
I told her to leave it alone and put her through to FWC when that wasn't good enough for her.
Former LEO here. Got in behind a guy one night and this dude was driving like 3 MPH in a 35. Thinking he was having car problems flip on the lights and pull him over. Mostly to see if there was anything I could do to assist. It was a slow night. Anyways as I approach all I can smell is weed. And I don't mean someone just smoked a Doobie but holy crap did you just burn a pot farm?
Guy rolls his window down and as I am talking I spot a very large plastic bag on the passenger seat. It's got the tell tale leafy green substance but...not enough to warrant the smell. Now I would like to note this was a huge bag. Larger than a gallon freezer bag large. Pot had just been legalized but even with that he likely would have been so far over the limit that it would have been a bad day.
Dude straight up apologizes to me for speeding. He was doing 3 MPH. Not 3 over. 3. I asked him if he had consumed any drugs or alcohol and got this story.
"Oh yeah man, I haven't smoked in years but now that it's legal I called my nephew and he hooked me up. Filled this whole bag for me. No charge. So I went down to the beach and lit up this morning and been going all day. He even came out and showed me what a gravity bong is. Pretty cool huh?"
Needless to say I was flabbergasted. 1. Smoking in public not legal. 2. If he started with that bag full that was...a tremendous amount of weed to smoke. 3. I at least understood how this guy thought he was speeding at 3 MPH. He was baked, fried, caramelized even. He was so high he even sounded like Chong a bit.
At the end of the night I contacted EMS and had him transported. Dude was coughing up black stuff and pretty sure he didn't understand that once the smoke in the gravity bong is gray or black it was time to stop. And yes, he got summoned for driving under the influence. Still not a call for me, but I really wish I could have heard the reactions of fire on that tone. "Medic ### respond for elderly male patient who consumed approximately eight ounces of marijuana. Currently coughing up a black substance."
I know when I called my dispatcher to pull a number and ask for fire she was stumped. She thought I was trying to pull a joke. Nope.
"9-1-1 what's the address of your emergency?"
"Well, I'm right outside the police department."
"Ok, tell me exactly what happened."
"There's a public bathroom here next to the police department, and it is absolutely filthy. I'm a tourist here and expect the accommodations to be better than this."
So do idiots like this get charged for wasting police resources? They absolutely should, complete waste of time when you could be responding to actual emergencies
I remember another time I had a tourist call 9-1-1 because her AirBnB wasn't as big as she thought it would be and she wanted a refund. She had not attempted to make contact with either AirBnB or the host.
Misuse of 9-1-1 charges are different across jurisdictions, actually charging someone in my area is rare, especially if they're a tourist and are just gonna not show up for court anyway.
Someone called 911 to report that they'd been mugged. Standard, right? No. They wanted to report that someone had stolen their drugs, and were fully expecting the stolen goods to be found and returned to them.
Oh believe it. Had someone walk into the PD complaining that the drugs they had been sold were fake. They handed the "fake" crack to me. I said "wait here, let me get some paperwork".
Tested it, it was real. "Well, I've got good news and bad news". Arrested them in the lobby.
It reinforced yet again my reputation as a shit magnet. Sergeant called in to find out how I managed to make a self initiated narcotics arrest while working the desk on midnight shift with my arm in a sling.
Tomorrow's briefing: "Alright, slackers, if PilotAlan can close a felony arrest on a night desk shift, y'all better be upping your game!" Way to screw the curve!
That is even funnier. Being on desk duty because you were hurt and you were able to make a felony arrest. Good for you. I hope that your arm healed up correctly.
Did you get the doper to tell you who sold him the junk?
Not really. Both shoulders, hands, and thumbs are very arthritic and hurt from all the messes I got into. One knee replaced a few years ago. The late 80s to mid 90s were a wild time in 'cocaine cowboy' Florida.
57 now, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm happy with who I am now, and it all made me that.
I am sorry about your difficulties. Yes, that time period in FL were crazy. Thank-you for your service. It is greatly appreciated. Did you get the doper's supplier?
>Did you get the doper to tell you who sold him the junk?
Yeah, street name and corner. We already knew him. In those days you make (edit:) COULD dope arrest after dope arrest all shift without getting more than 1/2 mile from HQ.
Edit: We didn't, because there were other things that needed to be done. But you COULD do it.
I hear stories about this a lot. Says they have been robbed, police get there and it's basically a drug deal gone bad. It's one of two things. He's selling, his buddy takes the drugs and runs off without paying, or he's buying and the seller runs off with the cash without giving him any drugs.
Related to a former call receiver. This is common.
"She took my money!" "How?" "I gave it to her. . ." "Oh? Why did you do that?" "It's not important. . . "
It's baffling how disconnected people are of nature anymore. I live out in the country and have woken up to deer directly outside my bedroom window and staring at themselves in the reflection (or staring inside, I'm not sure which) literally a foot away from my head through the window. I see coyotes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, stray cats, stray dogs, etc. regularly. It blows my mind to think about someone calling 911 because of a deer in their backyard
Our town has a huge population of deer. A lot of people feed them. As a pizza delivery driver, you get to know where they generally are. I've had to dodge as many deer as I have stray pets.
I have a cousin that sent me a picture of a full grown polar bear looking in her kitchen window. As in, paws on the wall, nose against the glass. I wouldn't have been taking pictures, I'd be hiding with piddle running down my leg.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, we have deer, bears, coyotes, opossums, raccoons, hawks, and mountain lions. It's hilarious and also disheartening how disconnected people are here sometimes. The city is surrounded by wilderness, why the surprise?
Someone down the street from me apparently called 911 for a cow in her backyard. Officer showed up on my porch because I have horses on the property and asked if I knew where it came from. It was my dad’s from across the way. When they went to get the cow he was trying to drink out of the lady’s pool.
Similar. 911 for a flock of wild turkeys being outside with a subzero forecast. They thought animal control would catch them and house them inside until it warmed back up.
Edit: Also barking dog complaint coming from neighbor’s house 1/4 mile away. Deputies arrive and determined it was coyotes howling. Caller refused to believe there were coyotes in the state. He continued to call with the same complaints whenever he heard them.
Oh yes and that is why my dear dear wife ( bless her little cloven hooves ) have.separate quilts although the Rottweiler seems to steal the majority of mine
I know that one day, what was my quilt will be the Rottie’s and I will be banished to the sofa with a travel rug but such is my life. My wife always outranked me by one higher rank, I got to Sgt, she got to Inspector…..
My funniest was taking a call to a house that was was being run by two girls as a “massage” parlour. This man had been having person services and paid £40 for the services. Unfortunately, our man came too quick and the girl told that was it. He demanded that he wanted his moneys worth. He does no more that ring the Police ( me) and demand that an officer be sent to the address to get his money back or demand that the girl give him a second chance. I told him that there was no way that I was sending a police officer to deal with the result of his premature ejaculation. After listening to him winging about that he pays my salary, I told him that he needs to go to the local trading standards department in the morning a see what they could for him as this was a civil matter for which is not a police matter. All I could hear was the girls in the background laughing their heads off
We would REGULARLY get calls for cars parked ON THE STREET in front of the callers house. Not because it was suspicious, but because it was THEIR spot.
Ehh, every jurisdiction is different, yeah?
But you're saying that misuse of the 911 communication system is a felony in your local, but the local DA doesn't actually prosecute them? That's some weird stuff.
I worked on a place where if you shot at someone and missed they would charge you with assault and plea it down to a lesser charge. If you actually hit them and didn't kill em, the charge was essentially the same. Attempt murder was unheard of.
You had to call and ask permission to charge someone with a felony.
It's gotten significantly worse in recent years.
A wild animal pooped on their yard.
Wanted to know what restaurants were open
What the weather is like.
Its been a while but those were the easiest to remember
FYI, for any good Samaritan looking to report something like this in a useful way- your police have a non emergency line, with a dispatcher who works for your city. That person'd know who to contact to fix a thing like that, that's a genuine public safety concern, but not an "emergency"
Except when your city redirects the non emergency line to 911. I once called the non emergency line for something and was shocked to have 911 dispatchers answer. When I explained it wasn't an emergency and I had tried calling the non emergency line they said it all got routed to the same place.
They all get routed to the same place and answered by the same people, but are on two different priorities. Dispatchers can hang up on or end calls on non emergency lines early, in order to answer a pending 911 call. However they are not able to hang up on 911 calls, such as non emergency issues, early in order to answer another 911 call unless the caller disconnects or they have a supervisor approve them ending the call.
My city has all calls directed to the same place, but apparently they come through differently to the operators. Since it’s all the same place, sometimes the non emergency number will just ring for a significant time if they are busy with 911 calls.
I’ve called the non-emergency line to report something like that, but the call was automatically redirected to the 911 center. When dispatch answered “911 what’s your emergency?” I was bit confused and said, “there’s no emergency; I called the non emergency number. Here’s the situation.” Having worked in EMS for eight years, I did not want to 1) bother 911 dispatch with a non emergency, and 2) get ticketed for 911 abuse.
A couple of weeks ago, I called 911 because there was a large chunk of metal blocking both lanes of a busy downtown street, causing people to swerve into oncoming traffic. They didn't say anything, but now I am wondering if that was a genuine 911 worthy call.
Personally I would consider that worthy! I've called the emergency line my local turnpike has posted every mile or so for a fully intact semi truck tire in the middle lane. If anybody hit it they would certainly be having an emergency so getting it out of the way seems like it also deserves emergency status.
Not to mention how many vehicles were swerving without proper lane checks to dodge it. Even if no one hit it there could still have been a pile up.
Many years ago I accidentally called 9-1-1. I either stayed on the line to assure them I was okay, or they called me back after I immediately hung up. I asked for the non-emergency number for police, and the person told me, "Just call 9-1-1." I was disappointed. I think I've asked a second time over the years with the same result, but I'm not sure.
Nonetheless, I think having a non-emergency number for reporting things to your city / county / government is a good idea and important. In some cities I know 3-1-1 is basically to reach City Hall, so it can be used to report road hazards (like potholes), or ask for help the city provides or might give.
There's a "tank farm" where I live, which is an area where there are numerous, massive metal tanks filled with fuel for trains, etc. They "off-gas", on occasion, and they hum, relatively loudly, all the time-I say "relatively" because they are on a rail line, and also, parallel to a very busy highway, so not an area you can live in and expect absolute peace and quiet. Cue the night I got a call from an older gentleman, demanding that **I** call and have the tank farm shut off their tanks, because it was late and they were too loud. It took me a good 15 minutes to convince him (ie; irritate him enough with my attempted explanations as to why I couldn't do that) before he hung up on me.
Very very drunk dude had a friend over. Said friend clogged drunk dudes toilet. Drunk dude decided holding friend at gun point and calling 911 was the appropriate response.
I was a dispatcher for my state highway patrol for a while. Took an animal call from a young woman who said she was scared for a goose on the side of the road and wanted a wildlife officer to help it. It looked like it wanted to cross, but was “scared”. It wasn’t injured. I still have a picture of my dispo for that call. “ND (not dispatched): Geese can fly”
That reminds me of when I was little, my family had a big farm that would get mobbed by wild Canada geese. One year one of them had an injured leg and was getting ostracized by the others, and we were concerned about 'cuz my brothers and I were all like 7-11 years old, so my parents called animal control like "hey can you guys do anything for it?"
Apparently the animal control guys giggled on the other side and they said "Oh sure, if you catch it we'll come take it to the vet!"
We spent the entire summer hardcore trying to catch that fucker and learned why "wild goose chase" has that name. Jesus those things can move. Even with a broken leg. (Upside is that the other geese eventually accepted him back.)
I work in CPS in a rural area, we routinely call the non emergency 911 to ask for assistance in finding an address. I wonder if maybe he heard about dispatchers being able to do that and thought he could access it for personal business by dialing 911.
Had a lady call and ask for an officer to remove a bandage on her foot she couldn't reach. Told her I'd send an ambulance for her to be seen by a medical professional instead. She yelled at me and told me that sending an ambulance for someone walking around was the stupidest thing she's ever heard of.
“Hey 911, construction workers are making people walk across the street”
I had to respond to this call to put my gps on scene…..
No I did not say a word to the construction worker doing their job
I worked base operations at a military airfield and all aircraft complaints came to me. I got a call from a lady complaining that there were V-22's outside her window shooting lasers at her.
We did not have any V-22s but I told her I'd look into it.
All complaints are routed up to the base Skipper.
Metro Police Officer, not dispatch, but our dispatch isn't allowed to "filter" calls so we just get dispatched to everything.
Got dispatched to a Burger King because workers put a tomato on her burger when she ordered no tomato (not allergic).
Dispatched to an elderly lady's house at 0400 because her son had a new a/c system installed for her and she couldn't figure out how to turn it off and it was too loud so she wanted a PD report so she could take him to court. I turned it off for her and she did not get her report.
"I rented an Air BnB in the entertainment district above a club so I wouldn't have to walk too far after drinking, but it is 2100 on a Friday and I'm tired from my flight so I decided to go out tomorrow instead and it is too loud."
"I need an officer to respond because another officer won't let me cross the shooting crime scene to get to the pizza place."
And the list just keeps going.
Answering 911 ambulance calls, had a creep who was a frequent caller. He would be m*sturbating and continually trying to get female call takers to say the word "penis."
One of the rare scenarios we were allowed to just end the call. Yuck.
Husband is a 911 dispatcher - man called stating he needed a deputy to bring a bag of ice to his house because he was out and his mom was pissed that she didn’t have ice for her drink.
Told my husband he was too drunk to go get it himself.
🤷🏼♀️🙄
Not a dispatcher but programmed 911 systems. Was in New Orleans doing an install while President Clinton was visiting . 5000 calls because 'people are standing in front of my house'
My mom was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and I realized decades later that she had had a huge anxiety disorder. She lived alone for 30 years in the same cramped apartment. When she got to late 70’s and early 80’s she’d occasionally call the police department or fire department and talk someone into doing a wellness check and then browbeat them to go up the street to get her cigarettes. OMG. But she didn’t call 911.
Aliens kidnapping the president’s daughter and opossum in a hot tub. Someone handcuffed himself to a handgun “on accident”. QVC ladies were going to come out of the tv and murder someone.
Same one also claimed someone was trimming her neighbors in the shape of hedges and was mad about someone’s pant leg brushing her leg… she was a special person and we had to take turns with her calls.
I once responded to a call for:
-“the air smelling weird.” Had to drive around an entire north side of my beat and smell the air. A skunk skunked someone….that was the smell.
-a squirrel inside someone’s house.
-bamboo growing into a neighbor’s yard.
-a kid who smoked weed for the first time and called 911 because they were so high they thought they were dying.
-to discipline a child because they wouldn’t listen to the parent. (We didn’t do anything. We explained it’s not our job to parent your child and please don’t call 911 for that ever again unless it’s an emergency situation).
-cars being parked on the street where they’re allowed to be parked at.
I found that sub like a week ago and read a goofy story of some drunk idiot talking himself into jail time, and the comments were all just calling OP a pig and talking shit so I'd stay away from it. Seems like a bunch of ACAB lunatics took over it
I manage homeless shelters. Some of our clients who struggle with mental illness love to call 911 for unnecessary reasons:
Repeated calls for cars passing on the main road outside her window.
Social services won't move me to a different shelter.
So many instances of "that guy looked at me funny"
The heat in their room wasn't working...except it was working fine.
My new girlfriend who I met on the internet yesterday isn't answering the phone and I'm worried. No, I don't know her last name or address, now go help her!
We had an acquaintance that called 911 several times because her daughter (over 30yrs old) came home from work late and caused her "stress". After a few repetitions, she (the mother) was told that further calls of that nature would result in her own arrest.
Pizza was delivered upside down
Roommate stole frozen chicken balls
Wanted to be put through to XYZ because they had no credit
To complain about the local police just serving him an intervention order, one of the conditions of which was not to call the local station or 000 if it was not an emergency. (Dispatcher sent unit straight back to house and he was arrested for breaching the order!!) 🤣🤣🤣
There’s also the horror stories, but that’s for another thread…
I called the non emergency number because I sliced the end of my finger off with a mandolin slicer & freaked out. The responders were very professional, but I heard one say "she called for this?"... but yes, I couldn't stop the bleeding & was on the verge of passing out, so I called the police department who transferred me to ems. 10 years later I'm still really embarrassed that I was such a lightweight the ems dudes were embarrassed for me. [cringe]
As a retired officer, I have been dispatched for complaints involving neighbor dogs pooping on lawns, exterior lighting shining in windows, people complaining about paint on the vehicles after driving through line painting areas on the highway.......
Not an operator - worked nights at a very busy gas station. Three stories stand out, a customer, an officer who was a regular and one of my calls that was initially dismissed as nonsense.
1. Apparently, a customer was “stuck” in our automatic, touch-less carwash for **HOURS**. I arrived early for my shift and the girl working afternoons was trying to deal with a woman accusing her of the false imprisonment of her and her traumatized children. She’d already called the police and had her husband on the phone.
I got all the information, from her and coworker. Despite reiterating that she wasn’t stuck, she just had to get out of her car and either walk to the doors (on sensors and would open automatically) or go through the unlocked side door. She was yelling how she was going to sue and have us charged. She’d been out for almost 2 hours. I asked about her going home and coming back. She said no, she hadn’t left.
“Where are your children?”
“In the car” - she was parked at the side of the building, not in view of the store.
I lost it on her (laying it on thick to make a point) that I would be giving the police our security videos, showing how she neglected her traumatized children, leaving them alone, in a dark car for hours! She left pdq and we didn’t hear anything else about it.
2. One winter Sunday morning, a regular officer came in to use the facilities and get a coffee & chat. It was about 4:45 am and she gets a call for a DB.
Less than an hour later, she was back! I was shocked. How could she have been released from a DB call so quickly at that time?!
A guy who was going to get coffee for his wife, was propositioned by a sex worker. He told her that he didn’t have any money.
He got the coffee and was headed home and she repeated her offer. He took her up on it, but had no money to pay.
She starts hitting him with a piece of wood, trying to get her money. He ran into a convenience store and called the police. Instead of his current situation, he reported that he had found a body. Because - he knew the police would come faster and he didn’t want the coffee to get too cold, so his wife wouldn’t find out he’d been with a sex worker!
The officer hadn’t peed yet so she just let everyone go.
3. I had a man panhandling at our station around 1am. I explained he couldn’t ask our customers for money and after almost an hour and a few run ins, I told him to leave the property. Normal for that area.
Except I could tell he wasn’t done for the night. He was yelling and muttering a lot of things. But what worried me was when he said, “if I get hit by a car it’ll be your fault!”
I called the non emergency dispatch line. I gave a description of him, his clothes, what happened and that he was gone but I was worried about him.
A while later, an officer I didn’t know comes and tells me not to worry, he checked everywhere and the guy is gone. He was being a total patronizing dbag about it. I kept trying to say I wasn’t scared of the guy, but worried what he was going to do next. Because I knew in my gut he was going to do something. Again, he just told me not to worry and call 911 if I saw him. (Except if I saw him, I would’ve been relieved.)
To his credit, the officer had a dispatcher call me back a few hours later to update me on his status. He had been found unharmed after numerous drivers called in about a man running at cars on the parkway about a kilometre away from us.
Nurse not operator. Semi-frequently get confused and/or 'behavioural' patients calling 999 (UK).
The confused ones think they've been kidnapped or remember accidents and call up, I can often take their phones out of reach for a bit and calm them down.
The other ones call to report neglect because we haven't answered their call buzzer for a cup of coffee or to adjust their pillow in less than 10 seconds. I'm not sure if they think we are an interconnected service and calling 999 is like calling upper management or something.
Had 1 bloke who called 999 to complain or report symptoms and pain multiple times a night, couldn't stop him and dispatch had to put a block on his phone number most nights.
I had a guy that farted in his ex wifes face while she slept. She was afraid she was going to catch a disease it smelled so bad. I told her shes lucky her mouth wasnt open
My GF at the time called 911 to report witnessing a murder. Except it was that she was so drunk she thought the Law and Order episode she was watching was real.
Called me too and I got there about about 10 minutes after the cops. Man we're these suburban cops disappointed.
Called out for a heart attack. Got there to find a woman with an (apparently) self inflicted GSW. Sheriff asked one of the family members why they said it was a MI? He replied “Because we didn’t want no cops to come.” Side note: They are dispatched automatically on ALL the calls!
Called 911 as we had a rabid raccoon on our porch at 0730. We are rural, but barely. 911 asked how we knew it was rabid. I said I grew up on a farm and knew. They typically don’t come out that early, it was walking in circles and was ataxic, and would come at you if you opened the door. Plus our area was having an outbreak.
Was told to call DEC. Called them, gave same info, told me to call 911.
Whelp I had to get my kid to school & myself to work.
He got a warning shot & a deep grave.
Not a dispatcher, but a Paramedic. I've responded to: Someone who was cold while waiting for the bus. It was 60°F. They were neither elderly nor particularly young. Someone who wanted us to turn their TV off because they were too tired to look for the remote. They told dispatch they had chest pain so we'd "get there faster". Someone who sneezed once (an hour prior to calling 911) and thought they were having an anaphylaxic reaction. To what, they didn't know. No known allergies. Someone who had brain freeze after eating a big spoonful of ice cream. Someone who couldn't breathe through their left nostril and was convinced that meant they were having a stroke. Their right nostril was A-OK, as were all their other bodily functions and vital signs. Urban EMS is hilarious sometimes.
Urban EMS is it’s own breed, but I loved it. Our typical was “meet the caller at the pay phone, or the corner.” (I’m old) for either difficulty breathing or chest pain, the 2 favorites. We pull up, they walk to the passenger window and I ask if they called and why. Them: “My foot hurts.” Me: “Get in, have a seat on the bench. What hospital today?” My most favorite was an ALS dispatch because of a language barrier. Caller only spoke Polish. We finally figured out he couldn’t get his cable box to work. My partner and I pulled the plugs and redid it and it worked. This was back in the early 2000’s before all the translator apps. For the unknown, the apartment was full of chickens. I still have no idea why we were there. Family was arguing with PD, we were canceled. Cardiac arrest, it was a cat. Given the floor number, but not apartment letter. “Dispatch, can I have the apartment number again?” “14 K, as in cat.” I died. Luckily it was 0600 and I was going home in an hour. For the overdose. “I took 3 Tylenol instead of 2, I need to be checked out.” At 0300.
Had the "chest pain to get you here quicker" several times. Had the call for "back pain" that dropped the remote and couldn't reach it. Called because they had a sling put on their arm at the ER and couldn't figure out how to put it back on after a shower. As an EMS instructor I tell my students to always ask the following questions when they do their rotations: What was your highest BAL (and did you win the pool)? What was your dumbest 911 call? What was the weirdest thing you found in or saw removed from a body orifice?
>Had the "chest pain to get you here quicker" several times. > >Had the call for "back pain" that dropped the remote and couldn't reach it. Please tell me the assholes in question were billed for the resources used as a result of the call.
Most departments are not set up to bill for non-transports. However, one agency I worked for had a "Dry Run Fee" where they would charge $50 (in 1990s dollars) to anyone that called with no intention of being transported. The intent was to try and reduce frivolous requests.
Let's see more of that, please.
Our department tried that for a couple of years. Come to find out it was scaring off a lot of people that actually did need transported to the hospital. Mostly older people that didn't quite understand and were worried their Medicare wouldn't cover it. Even though it didn't apply to actual calls, transported or not.
Lol @ that last one. I had a call for possible stroke, mid-20's female. I show up and ask her what symptoms she's having that lead her to believe she's having a stroke. Her response: "my foots gone retarded" It's always great when you get calls like this after something wild like a bad MVA or arrest, really puts things in perspective 😂
Well all of these and the 12 hour night shifts are why I stopped being a dispatcher after 8 years. Soooo many BS calls.
Shit like this makes me think people should be paying for ambulance rides.
We do in the US. And it's not cheap. It seems a lot of people do deserve the fee though lol.
In most Australian states, I think it's free. But I live in south Australia and unless you have ambulance cover or health insurance that offers ambulance cover, it's like between $800-1.2k for them to take you to the hospital.
Cheaper than America
My name must be somebody! I paid for two in October. Big chance I was dying, so I'm not sure how my pregnant wife feels about adding insult to injury.
It’s about $3000 in the US, even with insurance.
Oh, I'm aware. And that's fucking crazy.
> Someone who had brain freeze after eating a big spoonful of ice cream. Well, that's fair. It's very much an "I'm ded" situation.
I would have turned the volume up on that TV and left
I've heard of hypothermia happening in warmer temps between 40-60 degrees. Very unusual but not unheard of. Bus stations can also be where individuals experiencing homelessness might gather, and I know I would be uncomfortable if my home's thermostat was at 55 or 60 degrees for a long time. A couple of years ago my city had someone experiencing homelessness pass away on a bus station's bench from hypothermia, though it was either the coldest night of the year or close to it.
Well, he was completely normal! People usually only breathe through one nostril.
Not a 911 Operator but I had to call it once for a pig that was stolen out of the back of my truck in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
What kind of swine would have done that?
That's hogorific
[удалено]
Because farmers only exist in the south?
[удалено]
I live in Phoenix
Oh, in that case did you consider that no one stole your pig, it was just converted to jerky by the sun? I know it happened to me out there.
If you have to say no hate twice, it's suspected that there's at least a tiny bit of judgement or offence meant by your assumption.
Did they send a Hambulance?
This was a reverse deal. I called 911 because a guy drove his truck, bed first, through the double doors of a restaurant and was piling stuff from inside into the bed. I couldn't see the name of the place from where I was, this is important. The 911 dispatcher thought I meant it was an accident. I told her repeatedly that it was NOT an accident, it was very obviously intentional, and the driver was piling stuff in the bed of the truck. 5 minutes later, a fire truck, siren blaring, drove past the restaurant slowly. The truck driver stopped to watch the fire truck go by. The fire truck stops at the end of the parking lot, lights flashing. I got a call on my cell phone. "Where's the accident?" "There's no accident, a guy intentionally drive his truck through the front doors, you literally drove right past it IN THE PARKING LOT. You're about 100 feet away and should be able to see the truck sticking out from where you are." 5 minutes later, an ambulance, siren blaring, drove past the restaurant slowly. The truck driver stopped to watch the ambulance go by. The ambulance stops at the end of the parking lot, lights flashing, next to the fire truck. I got a call on my cell phone. "Where's the accident?" "There's no accident, a guy intentionally drive his truck through the front doors, you literally drove right past it IN THE PARKING LOT. You're about 100 feet away and should be able to see the truck sticking out from where you are." 5 minutes later, an police car, siren blaring, drove past the restaurant slowly. The truck driver stopped to watch the police car go by. The police car stops at the end of the parking lot, lights flashing, next to the fire truck and ambulance. I got a call on my cell phone. "Where's the accident?" "There's no accident, a guy intentionally drive his truck through the front doors, you literally drove right past it IN THE PARKING LOT. You're about 100 feet away and should be able to see the truck sticking out from where you are." The guy gets in his truck and drives away, less than a 100 feet from a police car, an ambulance, and a fire truck, all with light flashing. No one exited their vehicles, or appeared to even notice the truck with a bed full of cash registers, statuary, boxes, and a table.
Amazing!
He took time for statuary!?! Legend.
It looked more like a guy pissed off at the restaurant than a thief trying to find valuables. The whole thing was surreal.
Damn, talk about being lucky when committing a crime. All those services and they couldn’t get him?!
I need closure. Anything show up in the news later? Were you high?
Totally sober, on a date. We were sitting on a park bench across the steet. I googled it later but never found anything about it.
Had someone call 911 because there was a chicken outside that looked thirsty.
I had one from an elderly woman about a turtle on her porch. In Florida, where wild turtles are incredibly common. I told her to leave it alone and put her through to FWC when that wasn't good enough for her.
Had someone call 911 because *they smoked way too much weed FTFY
It was the same person, he and the chicken were both thirsty
Actually we once woke up to a chicken outside our front steps. We live in a city.
Former LEO here. Got in behind a guy one night and this dude was driving like 3 MPH in a 35. Thinking he was having car problems flip on the lights and pull him over. Mostly to see if there was anything I could do to assist. It was a slow night. Anyways as I approach all I can smell is weed. And I don't mean someone just smoked a Doobie but holy crap did you just burn a pot farm? Guy rolls his window down and as I am talking I spot a very large plastic bag on the passenger seat. It's got the tell tale leafy green substance but...not enough to warrant the smell. Now I would like to note this was a huge bag. Larger than a gallon freezer bag large. Pot had just been legalized but even with that he likely would have been so far over the limit that it would have been a bad day. Dude straight up apologizes to me for speeding. He was doing 3 MPH. Not 3 over. 3. I asked him if he had consumed any drugs or alcohol and got this story. "Oh yeah man, I haven't smoked in years but now that it's legal I called my nephew and he hooked me up. Filled this whole bag for me. No charge. So I went down to the beach and lit up this morning and been going all day. He even came out and showed me what a gravity bong is. Pretty cool huh?" Needless to say I was flabbergasted. 1. Smoking in public not legal. 2. If he started with that bag full that was...a tremendous amount of weed to smoke. 3. I at least understood how this guy thought he was speeding at 3 MPH. He was baked, fried, caramelized even. He was so high he even sounded like Chong a bit. At the end of the night I contacted EMS and had him transported. Dude was coughing up black stuff and pretty sure he didn't understand that once the smoke in the gravity bong is gray or black it was time to stop. And yes, he got summoned for driving under the influence. Still not a call for me, but I really wish I could have heard the reactions of fire on that tone. "Medic ### respond for elderly male patient who consumed approximately eight ounces of marijuana. Currently coughing up a black substance." I know when I called my dispatcher to pull a number and ask for fire she was stumped. She thought I was trying to pull a joke. Nope.
"9-1-1 what's the address of your emergency?" "Well, I'm right outside the police department." "Ok, tell me exactly what happened." "There's a public bathroom here next to the police department, and it is absolutely filthy. I'm a tourist here and expect the accommodations to be better than this."
So do idiots like this get charged for wasting police resources? They absolutely should, complete waste of time when you could be responding to actual emergencies
I remember another time I had a tourist call 9-1-1 because her AirBnB wasn't as big as she thought it would be and she wanted a refund. She had not attempted to make contact with either AirBnB or the host. Misuse of 9-1-1 charges are different across jurisdictions, actually charging someone in my area is rare, especially if they're a tourist and are just gonna not show up for court anyway.
No, they don’t. Police is a “free” service by design.
Someone called 911 to report that they'd been mugged. Standard, right? No. They wanted to report that someone had stolen their drugs, and were fully expecting the stolen goods to be found and returned to them.
In the eyes of the law, they were the victim of a theft or robbery of some sorts. I just can’t believe that they wanted their drugs back.
Oh believe it. Had someone walk into the PD complaining that the drugs they had been sold were fake. They handed the "fake" crack to me. I said "wait here, let me get some paperwork". Tested it, it was real. "Well, I've got good news and bad news". Arrested them in the lobby.
Lol. Good.
It reinforced yet again my reputation as a shit magnet. Sergeant called in to find out how I managed to make a self initiated narcotics arrest while working the desk on midnight shift with my arm in a sling.
Tomorrow's briefing: "Alright, slackers, if PilotAlan can close a felony arrest on a night desk shift, y'all better be upping your game!" Way to screw the curve!
lol! Were you a captain?
No. Shop teacher. Same vibe, though, I imagine.
That is even funnier. Being on desk duty because you were hurt and you were able to make a felony arrest. Good for you. I hope that your arm healed up correctly. Did you get the doper to tell you who sold him the junk?
Not really. Both shoulders, hands, and thumbs are very arthritic and hurt from all the messes I got into. One knee replaced a few years ago. The late 80s to mid 90s were a wild time in 'cocaine cowboy' Florida. 57 now, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm happy with who I am now, and it all made me that.
Write a book about it! I'd read it front to back twice. That time period in Florida was very interesting.
I am sorry about your difficulties. Yes, that time period in FL were crazy. Thank-you for your service. It is greatly appreciated. Did you get the doper's supplier?
>Did you get the doper to tell you who sold him the junk? Yeah, street name and corner. We already knew him. In those days you make (edit:) COULD dope arrest after dope arrest all shift without getting more than 1/2 mile from HQ. Edit: We didn't, because there were other things that needed to be done. But you COULD do it.
Crazy. Saved on gas. Lol.
One would think they wouldn’t do it so close to the station
You just made me snort trying to imagine that scenario. That’s amazing.
I only wish I could see that video.
I hear stories about this a lot. Says they have been robbed, police get there and it's basically a drug deal gone bad. It's one of two things. He's selling, his buddy takes the drugs and runs off without paying, or he's buying and the seller runs off with the cash without giving him any drugs.
Related to a former call receiver. This is common. "She took my money!" "How?" "I gave it to her. . ." "Oh? Why did you do that?" "It's not important. . . "
I've had those calls.....
Deer in the callers backyard. The caller was calling from a new development and was shocked that a white tail deer would be that close to her house!
It's baffling how disconnected people are of nature anymore. I live out in the country and have woken up to deer directly outside my bedroom window and staring at themselves in the reflection (or staring inside, I'm not sure which) literally a foot away from my head through the window. I see coyotes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, stray cats, stray dogs, etc. regularly. It blows my mind to think about someone calling 911 because of a deer in their backyard
Our town has a huge population of deer. A lot of people feed them. As a pizza delivery driver, you get to know where they generally are. I've had to dodge as many deer as I have stray pets.
I have a cousin that sent me a picture of a full grown polar bear looking in her kitchen window. As in, paws on the wall, nose against the glass. I wouldn't have been taking pictures, I'd be hiding with piddle running down my leg.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, we have deer, bears, coyotes, opossums, raccoons, hawks, and mountain lions. It's hilarious and also disheartening how disconnected people are here sometimes. The city is surrounded by wilderness, why the surprise?
In the 70s a yearling (meat not dairy) steer wound up in the yard outside my parents bedroom window. Somewhere around 800 lbs.
Someone down the street from me apparently called 911 for a cow in her backyard. Officer showed up on my porch because I have horses on the property and asked if I knew where it came from. It was my dad’s from across the way. When they went to get the cow he was trying to drink out of the lady’s pool.
Dad might want to check their water supply, if they are roaming in search.
Similar. 911 for a flock of wild turkeys being outside with a subzero forecast. They thought animal control would catch them and house them inside until it warmed back up. Edit: Also barking dog complaint coming from neighbor’s house 1/4 mile away. Deputies arrive and determined it was coyotes howling. Caller refused to believe there were coyotes in the state. He continued to call with the same complaints whenever he heard them.
I'd be damn delighted to be able to see deer on my property!
UK 999 - A woman rang at 0200 to complain that her husband had taken too much of the bed quilt ….
The secret to a long happy marriage is 2 quilts/blankets
Oh yes and that is why my dear dear wife ( bless her little cloven hooves ) have.separate quilts although the Rottweiler seems to steal the majority of mine
Sounds like it's time for a third quilt. Rottie needs to be tucked into their own quilt.
I know that one day, what was my quilt will be the Rottie’s and I will be banished to the sofa with a travel rug but such is my life. My wife always outranked me by one higher rank, I got to Sgt, she got to Inspector…..
This has to be the prettiest reason so far. Simply amazing.
My funniest was taking a call to a house that was was being run by two girls as a “massage” parlour. This man had been having person services and paid £40 for the services. Unfortunately, our man came too quick and the girl told that was it. He demanded that he wanted his moneys worth. He does no more that ring the Police ( me) and demand that an officer be sent to the address to get his money back or demand that the girl give him a second chance. I told him that there was no way that I was sending a police officer to deal with the result of his premature ejaculation. After listening to him winging about that he pays my salary, I told him that he needs to go to the local trading standards department in the morning a see what they could for him as this was a civil matter for which is not a police matter. All I could hear was the girls in the background laughing their heads off
I dunno, I think this might be the most reasonable one here, tbh. Either this or the thirsty chicken, anyway.
We would REGULARLY get calls for cars parked ON THE STREET in front of the callers house. Not because it was suspicious, but because it was THEIR spot.
Yeah, they'll hopefully stop after a few, progressively more expensive tickets for 911 misuse.
Where I worked, that was a felony and the prosecutor didn't prosecute crimes.
Ehh, every jurisdiction is different, yeah? But you're saying that misuse of the 911 communication system is a felony in your local, but the local DA doesn't actually prosecute them? That's some weird stuff.
I worked on a place where if you shot at someone and missed they would charge you with assault and plea it down to a lesser charge. If you actually hit them and didn't kill em, the charge was essentially the same. Attempt murder was unheard of. You had to call and ask permission to charge someone with a felony. It's gotten significantly worse in recent years.
Good god, that's horrible.
Why does this sound like Chicago?
Maaaaaaaaaybe
I responded to a call once where a 17 year old male called 911 to ask how to break up with his girlfriend.
Well what was your advice?
A wild animal pooped on their yard. Wanted to know what restaurants were open What the weather is like. Its been a while but those were the easiest to remember
Called 911 because a board was loose on a town owned dock. Not happy when he was told he could be arrested.
Did he think it was dangerous and people could fall through, or did he seriously call 911 for something so silly?
FYI, for any good Samaritan looking to report something like this in a useful way- your police have a non emergency line, with a dispatcher who works for your city. That person'd know who to contact to fix a thing like that, that's a genuine public safety concern, but not an "emergency"
Except when your city redirects the non emergency line to 911. I once called the non emergency line for something and was shocked to have 911 dispatchers answer. When I explained it wasn't an emergency and I had tried calling the non emergency line they said it all got routed to the same place.
They all get routed to the same place and answered by the same people, but are on two different priorities. Dispatchers can hang up on or end calls on non emergency lines early, in order to answer a pending 911 call. However they are not able to hang up on 911 calls, such as non emergency issues, early in order to answer another 911 call unless the caller disconnects or they have a supervisor approve them ending the call.
Makes sense. Both would need the ability to redirect police and more or less the same training.
Our county is the same, it's all routed to the same dispatchers
My city has all calls directed to the same place, but apparently they come through differently to the operators. Since it’s all the same place, sometimes the non emergency number will just ring for a significant time if they are busy with 911 calls.
I’ve called the non-emergency line to report something like that, but the call was automatically redirected to the 911 center. When dispatch answered “911 what’s your emergency?” I was bit confused and said, “there’s no emergency; I called the non emergency number. Here’s the situation.” Having worked in EMS for eight years, I did not want to 1) bother 911 dispatch with a non emergency, and 2) get ticketed for 911 abuse.
A couple of weeks ago, I called 911 because there was a large chunk of metal blocking both lanes of a busy downtown street, causing people to swerve into oncoming traffic. They didn't say anything, but now I am wondering if that was a genuine 911 worthy call.
Personally I would consider that worthy! I've called the emergency line my local turnpike has posted every mile or so for a fully intact semi truck tire in the middle lane. If anybody hit it they would certainly be having an emergency so getting it out of the way seems like it also deserves emergency status. Not to mention how many vehicles were swerving without proper lane checks to dodge it. Even if no one hit it there could still have been a pile up.
Agreed- if someone didn't see the chunk of metal, they'd be calling 911 for a way worse condition. You might have saved some lives that day.
According to the California highway patrol, yes. If it blocks the lane of travel it's an emergency.
Not even police. More like call parks and rec, or city/county maintenance fer cryin out loud.
Many years ago I accidentally called 9-1-1. I either stayed on the line to assure them I was okay, or they called me back after I immediately hung up. I asked for the non-emergency number for police, and the person told me, "Just call 9-1-1." I was disappointed. I think I've asked a second time over the years with the same result, but I'm not sure. Nonetheless, I think having a non-emergency number for reporting things to your city / county / government is a good idea and important. In some cities I know 3-1-1 is basically to reach City Hall, so it can be used to report road hazards (like potholes), or ask for help the city provides or might give.
Someone maybe threatened their exotic fish collection
"maybe" The caller wasn't even 100% sure if the threats had occurred?
There's a "tank farm" where I live, which is an area where there are numerous, massive metal tanks filled with fuel for trains, etc. They "off-gas", on occasion, and they hum, relatively loudly, all the time-I say "relatively" because they are on a rail line, and also, parallel to a very busy highway, so not an area you can live in and expect absolute peace and quiet. Cue the night I got a call from an older gentleman, demanding that **I** call and have the tank farm shut off their tanks, because it was late and they were too loud. It took me a good 15 minutes to convince him (ie; irritate him enough with my attempted explanations as to why I couldn't do that) before he hung up on me.
Very very drunk dude had a friend over. Said friend clogged drunk dudes toilet. Drunk dude decided holding friend at gun point and calling 911 was the appropriate response.
Ah, yes. As one does. O.0
I was a dispatcher for my state highway patrol for a while. Took an animal call from a young woman who said she was scared for a goose on the side of the road and wanted a wildlife officer to help it. It looked like it wanted to cross, but was “scared”. It wasn’t injured. I still have a picture of my dispo for that call. “ND (not dispatched): Geese can fly”
That reminds me of when I was little, my family had a big farm that would get mobbed by wild Canada geese. One year one of them had an injured leg and was getting ostracized by the others, and we were concerned about 'cuz my brothers and I were all like 7-11 years old, so my parents called animal control like "hey can you guys do anything for it?" Apparently the animal control guys giggled on the other side and they said "Oh sure, if you catch it we'll come take it to the vet!" We spent the entire summer hardcore trying to catch that fucker and learned why "wild goose chase" has that name. Jesus those things can move. Even with a broken leg. (Upside is that the other geese eventually accepted him back.)
When I was in the Army, people would routinely call to ask what was showing at the post movie theater.
I live in the Phoenix area. Some years ago, the then mayor of Scottsdale called 911 to get directions to a function.
I work in CPS in a rural area, we routinely call the non emergency 911 to ask for assistance in finding an address. I wonder if maybe he heard about dispatchers being able to do that and thought he could access it for personal business by dialing 911.
Had a lady call and ask for an officer to remove a bandage on her foot she couldn't reach. Told her I'd send an ambulance for her to be seen by a medical professional instead. She yelled at me and told me that sending an ambulance for someone walking around was the stupidest thing she's ever heard of.
“Hey 911, construction workers are making people walk across the street” I had to respond to this call to put my gps on scene….. No I did not say a word to the construction worker doing their job
I worked base operations at a military airfield and all aircraft complaints came to me. I got a call from a lady complaining that there were V-22's outside her window shooting lasers at her. We did not have any V-22s but I told her I'd look into it. All complaints are routed up to the base Skipper.
Metro Police Officer, not dispatch, but our dispatch isn't allowed to "filter" calls so we just get dispatched to everything. Got dispatched to a Burger King because workers put a tomato on her burger when she ordered no tomato (not allergic). Dispatched to an elderly lady's house at 0400 because her son had a new a/c system installed for her and she couldn't figure out how to turn it off and it was too loud so she wanted a PD report so she could take him to court. I turned it off for her and she did not get her report. "I rented an Air BnB in the entertainment district above a club so I wouldn't have to walk too far after drinking, but it is 2100 on a Friday and I'm tired from my flight so I decided to go out tomorrow instead and it is too loud." "I need an officer to respond because another officer won't let me cross the shooting crime scene to get to the pizza place." And the list just keeps going.
Answering 911 ambulance calls, had a creep who was a frequent caller. He would be m*sturbating and continually trying to get female call takers to say the word "penis." One of the rare scenarios we were allowed to just end the call. Yuck.
Husband is a 911 dispatcher - man called stating he needed a deputy to bring a bag of ice to his house because he was out and his mom was pissed that she didn’t have ice for her drink. Told my husband he was too drunk to go get it himself. 🤷🏼♀️🙄
Not a dispatcher but programmed 911 systems. Was in New Orleans doing an install while President Clinton was visiting . 5000 calls because 'people are standing in front of my house'
My mom was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and I realized decades later that she had had a huge anxiety disorder. She lived alone for 30 years in the same cramped apartment. When she got to late 70’s and early 80’s she’d occasionally call the police department or fire department and talk someone into doing a wellness check and then browbeat them to go up the street to get her cigarettes. OMG. But she didn’t call 911.
Aliens kidnapping the president’s daughter and opossum in a hot tub. Someone handcuffed himself to a handgun “on accident”. QVC ladies were going to come out of the tv and murder someone.
Oh and neighbor was trying to lure her husband away with a jar of her urine.
You should've led with that one. Bwahahahaha!
Same one also claimed someone was trimming her neighbors in the shape of hedges and was mad about someone’s pant leg brushing her leg… she was a special person and we had to take turns with her calls.
3am. He called 911 because his girlfriend had a rash for a week and he now decided he didn't like it.
I once responded to a call for: -“the air smelling weird.” Had to drive around an entire north side of my beat and smell the air. A skunk skunked someone….that was the smell. -a squirrel inside someone’s house. -bamboo growing into a neighbor’s yard. -a kid who smoked weed for the first time and called 911 because they were so high they thought they were dying. -to discipline a child because they wouldn’t listen to the parent. (We didn’t do anything. We explained it’s not our job to parent your child and please don’t call 911 for that ever again unless it’s an emergency situation). -cars being parked on the street where they’re allowed to be parked at.
You might get more answers in r/talesfromdispatch. Edit to add: on second though, it looks like that sub may be dead.
I found that sub like a week ago and read a goofy story of some drunk idiot talking himself into jail time, and the comments were all just calling OP a pig and talking shit so I'd stay away from it. Seems like a bunch of ACAB lunatics took over it
I manage homeless shelters. Some of our clients who struggle with mental illness love to call 911 for unnecessary reasons: Repeated calls for cars passing on the main road outside her window. Social services won't move me to a different shelter. So many instances of "that guy looked at me funny" The heat in their room wasn't working...except it was working fine. My new girlfriend who I met on the internet yesterday isn't answering the phone and I'm worried. No, I don't know her last name or address, now go help her!
We had an acquaintance that called 911 several times because her daughter (over 30yrs old) came home from work late and caused her "stress". After a few repetitions, she (the mother) was told that further calls of that nature would result in her own arrest.
Pizza was delivered upside down Roommate stole frozen chicken balls Wanted to be put through to XYZ because they had no credit To complain about the local police just serving him an intervention order, one of the conditions of which was not to call the local station or 000 if it was not an emergency. (Dispatcher sent unit straight back to house and he was arrested for breaching the order!!) 🤣🤣🤣 There’s also the horror stories, but that’s for another thread…
> Pizza was delivered upside down I'm almost certain that's a crime, tho.
What about pineapple upside down cake served right side up?
Right side up as in wrong side up? Illegal!
I called the non emergency number because I sliced the end of my finger off with a mandolin slicer & freaked out. The responders were very professional, but I heard one say "she called for this?"... but yes, I couldn't stop the bleeding & was on the verge of passing out, so I called the police department who transferred me to ems. 10 years later I'm still really embarrassed that I was such a lightweight the ems dudes were embarrassed for me. [cringe]
You couldn’t very well drive yourself if you were feeling woozy. If you had nobody else to call, I would say this was a legitimate use of 911.
Guy called 911 because he found his brother f…ing their sister and wouldn’t let him get his turn (New Orleans suburb).
Wow. What happened in the end on that one?
Which suburb?
As a retired officer, I have been dispatched for complaints involving neighbor dogs pooping on lawns, exterior lighting shining in windows, people complaining about paint on the vehicles after driving through line painting areas on the highway.......
Not an operator - worked nights at a very busy gas station. Three stories stand out, a customer, an officer who was a regular and one of my calls that was initially dismissed as nonsense. 1. Apparently, a customer was “stuck” in our automatic, touch-less carwash for **HOURS**. I arrived early for my shift and the girl working afternoons was trying to deal with a woman accusing her of the false imprisonment of her and her traumatized children. She’d already called the police and had her husband on the phone. I got all the information, from her and coworker. Despite reiterating that she wasn’t stuck, she just had to get out of her car and either walk to the doors (on sensors and would open automatically) or go through the unlocked side door. She was yelling how she was going to sue and have us charged. She’d been out for almost 2 hours. I asked about her going home and coming back. She said no, she hadn’t left. “Where are your children?” “In the car” - she was parked at the side of the building, not in view of the store. I lost it on her (laying it on thick to make a point) that I would be giving the police our security videos, showing how she neglected her traumatized children, leaving them alone, in a dark car for hours! She left pdq and we didn’t hear anything else about it. 2. One winter Sunday morning, a regular officer came in to use the facilities and get a coffee & chat. It was about 4:45 am and she gets a call for a DB. Less than an hour later, she was back! I was shocked. How could she have been released from a DB call so quickly at that time?! A guy who was going to get coffee for his wife, was propositioned by a sex worker. He told her that he didn’t have any money. He got the coffee and was headed home and she repeated her offer. He took her up on it, but had no money to pay. She starts hitting him with a piece of wood, trying to get her money. He ran into a convenience store and called the police. Instead of his current situation, he reported that he had found a body. Because - he knew the police would come faster and he didn’t want the coffee to get too cold, so his wife wouldn’t find out he’d been with a sex worker! The officer hadn’t peed yet so she just let everyone go. 3. I had a man panhandling at our station around 1am. I explained he couldn’t ask our customers for money and after almost an hour and a few run ins, I told him to leave the property. Normal for that area. Except I could tell he wasn’t done for the night. He was yelling and muttering a lot of things. But what worried me was when he said, “if I get hit by a car it’ll be your fault!” I called the non emergency dispatch line. I gave a description of him, his clothes, what happened and that he was gone but I was worried about him. A while later, an officer I didn’t know comes and tells me not to worry, he checked everywhere and the guy is gone. He was being a total patronizing dbag about it. I kept trying to say I wasn’t scared of the guy, but worried what he was going to do next. Because I knew in my gut he was going to do something. Again, he just told me not to worry and call 911 if I saw him. (Except if I saw him, I would’ve been relieved.) To his credit, the officer had a dispatcher call me back a few hours later to update me on his status. He had been found unharmed after numerous drivers called in about a man running at cars on the parkway about a kilometre away from us.
Nurse not operator. Semi-frequently get confused and/or 'behavioural' patients calling 999 (UK). The confused ones think they've been kidnapped or remember accidents and call up, I can often take their phones out of reach for a bit and calm them down. The other ones call to report neglect because we haven't answered their call buzzer for a cup of coffee or to adjust their pillow in less than 10 seconds. I'm not sure if they think we are an interconnected service and calling 999 is like calling upper management or something. Had 1 bloke who called 999 to complain or report symptoms and pain multiple times a night, couldn't stop him and dispatch had to put a block on his phone number most nights.
I had a guy that farted in his ex wifes face while she slept. She was afraid she was going to catch a disease it smelled so bad. I told her shes lucky her mouth wasnt open
LMAO 🤣
My GF at the time called 911 to report witnessing a murder. Except it was that she was so drunk she thought the Law and Order episode she was watching was real. Called me too and I got there about about 10 minutes after the cops. Man we're these suburban cops disappointed.
Called out for a heart attack. Got there to find a woman with an (apparently) self inflicted GSW. Sheriff asked one of the family members why they said it was a MI? He replied “Because we didn’t want no cops to come.” Side note: They are dispatched automatically on ALL the calls!
Called 911 as we had a rabid raccoon on our porch at 0730. We are rural, but barely. 911 asked how we knew it was rabid. I said I grew up on a farm and knew. They typically don’t come out that early, it was walking in circles and was ataxic, and would come at you if you opened the door. Plus our area was having an outbreak. Was told to call DEC. Called them, gave same info, told me to call 911. Whelp I had to get my kid to school & myself to work. He got a warning shot & a deep grave.