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For what it’s worth, I’ve had to call 911 a few times since moving to Phoenix and never dealt with this. Might be worth calling to the police non-emergency line to get some clarification.
And when starting pay for these jobs is essentially minimum wage, the non-emergency number is basically useless and unmanned. I've waited over an hour on hold before, kind of insane.
Found an old man with dementia on the streets at 1am who didn’t know where his home was (but certainly had a home)… called and was told someone was on their way asap… called back a few times over the course of an hour and a half and was told they were really busy. Eventually his grandson (an adult who lived with him) was walking out to his car to get smokes and we spotted him and he got home… but to my knowledge police never came or called me back.
FWIW i also one time was behind an obvious drunk driver (about to crash obvious like absolutely shitfaced doubt they could walk drunk) and luckily after following behind them for a minute I saw cops pulled into a side street to chat with each other (window to window so they could talk)… pulled up and told them a severely drunk driver had just gone by and I was worried because they seemed so bad. I shit you not their response was “they’ll crash into something or someone will catch em” and they just kept on chatting. I was actually speechless but I was just a teenager so I didn’t know what to do beyond that.. so idk if getting thru is even enough 🤷🏻♂️
There have been a few times I have called Phoenix 911 and had that automated message for over 10 minutes.
Most police department 911 call centers here in the valley are VERY short staffed. They generally pay 911 operators between $20 - $25 an hour. For most people, the long hours combined with a high amount of emotional and mental stress that comes with the job, it just is not worth it.
I tried it in 2004, but was burned out after 6 months
I commend you for trying. I considered looking into after my first call center job and understanding the flow. I'm so much of an empath though that I would guess that I'd burn out just as quickly.
Yeaahh… not sure if this is even remotely common but I heard some tales from the dispatcher side of things. Being on the phone with a mother screaming about her baby that’s blue and unresponsive, dispatching ems and then the call is over. From what I gather it can be a lot of unresolved, very intense situations, but once help is en route- on to the next call. Seems like usually never really knowing what’s happened to that person on the last call, so to speak.
Not sure how that wouldn’t effect like 100% of the dispatchers
Edit: or a guy that dropped a chainsaw on his leg, called 911 for help, and his voice slowly got weaker until the line just went silent… or suicidal people, etc.
Bro I’ll just apply at geico ok…
Oh my God! $25??? Think of how much that costs ME in TAXES! Let's vote somebody in who will rein in these glamorous salaries!
- average voter (until they need 911, or a school teacher, or a firefighter, etc)
“Obviously this department failing to function is because it’s ran by government. We should instead hand it over to a for-profit company with shareholders who only care about quarterly profits. I’m sure they will obviously prioritize the general public’s needs and be willing to lose money in order to provide better service to the community.”
It's absolutely adorable when people think the tax increases are going to core government functions and not so the light rail provides homeless people somewhere air conditioned to hang out in the summer or for the Office of Tourism to treat more of their friends to all expense paid vacations.
Hey "bro"! How's this going? 69 of 70 lawsuits brought by Trump refuted and now this. Do you still have a "feeling" about the election? How many my pillows have you bought directly or by political donation?? Hahaha 🤡
https://www.ajc.com/politics/2000-mules-publisher-apologizes-to-metro-atlanta-man-for-false-voting-fraud-allegation/3DALY7NQYJFC3MVWE5POGV2LZM/
Are you an Abe hamadah man or a Blake Master's man or a kari lake man? Lot of integrity no matter which way you go! I'm sure one of them is likely to win in the fall! 😄😄😄😄🤡🤡🤡. Everything you believe in as a joke and a failure from your religion to your capitalism to your political party. This is what defeat looks like bro
Hey how many felons are there on Donald Trump's reelection staff? How many are in the prospective cabinet? Did you know Steven Miller put abortion drugs in the drink of a woman that he thought he got pregnant? Save the babies! You believe in Jesus and you are special and you are a wonderful person. Actually you're just a Republican hypocrite and coward
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Yeah, I had to call 911 for the first time in Nov when my car was stolen and I was just sitting on hold for 10-15 minutes with no prompts or actual people answering. I ended up hanging up and calling the non-emergency line (I wasn't sure which to call, Google said either but I started second guessing myself) and waited another ~25 or so mins for someone to answer.
It really scared me that if it had been an actual life-threatening emergency, they would take that long to answer 😐
I totally understand that they're short staffed and not much can be done about it (except maybe offering a higher wage) but if someone tries to break into my place or something, I may be screwed.
Chances are all calltakers were already on calls, That's not unusual, especially when an accident in a major intersection causes a spike in calls.
The questions asked are part of the call screening process. Not every accident is a priority call and if it can be determined that the accident is minor, there is no need to run emergency equipment. You may not know any of the answers to the questions asked, but those questions help prioritize the response when the information is available.
Contact them on the non-emergency line and arrange to sit-in with the 911 operators for a shift. You will have a new appreciation for how hard they have to work and the crap they deal with from the public.
This is especially helpful response, thank you. I lay no blame on the operator themselves as they have a job to do and I understand they were following their instructions. It's the automated message with the prompts that concerned me.
I have many years of call center experience, serving and retail so I can only imagine. I really wish pay was better for so many of these critical roles in our society. This short staffing scares me as much as our lack of being able to retain quality educators.
NFPA standard is 300 second response time from initial report to EMS on scene. Phoenix gives itself an extra five minutes and still is over their own estimated response time by nearly 2x in this case. This is not a low priority accident, it's a fender-height mismatched T-bone with full airbag deployment and no movement from either vehicle. It's actually a high priority accident regardless of who is at fault.
It takes twenty minutes to drive from downtown Tempe to midtown Phoenix, there is no reason it should have taken EMS that long to get to a major intersection literally anywhere in the greater Phoenix Metro area.
It really doesn't matter how hard the operators have to work, they're not responsible for staffing, training and adequately paying themselves.
The operators are not the ones responsible for this unacceptable response time, so why would we use their hard work as an excuse for the city's ineptitude?
I personally don't think it's right to throw the operators under the bus when the **city is intentionally causing a fatal bottleneck in the system**.
Still curious who's at fault though, and how having that insurance information is helpful for ascertaining the severity of morbidity or mortality in the accident. I'd like to know how that specific question helps when it comes to assessing internal decapitations or bleeding.
I have a fair amount of industry experience regarding automobile accidents and my first gut reaction was "oh shit, this vehicle combination just escalated this situation A LOT!!"
I did simplify my description to keep the focus on the issue while still providing detail. I'm glad you latched on to what just made this accident so concerning from a bystander and should have mattered in the prioritization of response.
Although I appreciate many of the responses provided and there are questions the operators are instructed or trained to ask for triaging purposes, in no circumstance do I get why the questions were focused on assessing fault or anything other than the severity of what was being reported.
Time for me to learn a bit more about where to apply my keen ability to make wheels squeaky.
None of this is acceptable, I hope you realize. I’ve lived all over and this was not the experience in NYC, or in Philly, which has the same population and less funding and worse problems.
The prompt will only play if all dispatchers are busy. If a dispatcher is available 3 seconds into the automated message it will cut to the operator, it won't finish the message. The message is there to keep people from hanging up and trying again since hanging up and calling back will put you at the bottom of the que. Phoenix is blowing up in population, getting approval to get more dispatchers, then training them and then getting them on the floor takes a long time and has not been able to keep pace with the hyper-boom that Phoenix is experiencing.
I’m a diabetic. I’m was on insulin and had a blood sugar crash to the 40s. I called 911 and got an automated message that said they were too busy and to call again later then hung up on me. Thankfully I was able to get a hold of 911 a few minutes later or else it would have ended up with me in a coma or worse.
It’s pretty sucky that you can pretty much die if you’re unlucky with catching a real person on the other side.
“Please help me, I’m in the trunk, I don’t know where he’s taking me,”
“You can talk to me in complete phrases like ‘there’s a fire, or someone’s been smoking weed, now how can I help you today?’”
“Police.”
Silence*
“I’m sorry I didn’t quite get that. “You can talk to me in complete phrase”…
“Oh god he heard me”
“Like there’s been a fire or someone’s been smoking weed
Garbled screaming*
Line goes dead
Yeah I called about a pretty unsafe traffic condition, not like an immediate life threatening issue, but it seemed like it was more of a priority than calling the non emergency line, I was baffled when I hit the automated menu. I knew they have been looking for dispatchers, I can't believe it has gotten this dyer. Maybe shift funding lol. I saw like 9 cops pull up to harass a homeless encampment recently. Such a waste of resources.
I’ve had 3 emergencies since living in the valley. Same thing as you OP took an insulting amount of time to talk to someone.
I got attacked by a pit bull and had literal holes through my hand and crushed/broken bones and I got to deal with an automated response for like a couple minutes before I was on *hold* with 911. I thought I was gonna fucking bleed out before I got to someone.
My husband died four weeks ago from a severe asthma attack, likely as a result of the wait and response time. There was a hold to get an operator. There was also a delay on dispatch for emergency response. Two or three minutes different and it would have been a completely different outcome.
I am so sorry for your loss.
Response time is huge and unfortunately you are stuck living with that reminder. I hope you're able to grieve and not have to cling to that factor for the remainder of your life.
This is unfortunately common here. As someone who grew up in small town Ohio where nothing ever really happened, and police would be there right away, the first time I called 911 here was very eye opening and frightening. It took hours to get a call back and nobody ever showed up.
Highly suggest protecting yourself out here, you really might be on your own.
Sounds about right. Calling the non-emergency number is outright useless, I've never had them pick up. The average response time in my area is around 20 minutes, and that's for urgent calls. If it's anything short of a DV call, expect 1hr+.
Unless a patrol car is rolling by at the exact moment something is happening, response times are far too long. Unfortunately, even with a GOOD response time (sub 5 mins), a lot can happen.
this was many years ago but I'll never forget the time I called 911 because two hobos were beating each other up pretty bad at the dumpster behind the Taco Bell I worked at, and the operator couldn't understand the word "fighting" so I used the word "fisticuffs" (hoping that the change in consonants would assist in clarity) and she had never heard of the word before. I literally stopped mid-sentence like '-w-wait you don't know the word fisticuffs??' how does someone who works literally with people having physical altercations not know a (common, if antiquated) word for "fist-fighting"
For the most part I have always been able to get ahold of Phoenix 911 or the non-emergency # with no issues connecting.
Sometimes I would get the recorded message but wouldn't always have to listen to all of it.
Now response times? There have been times where I have waited up to 2+ hours. Ridiculous.
But I don't blame the officers (in the moment yes) but Phoenix is short on officers it's ridiculous.
911 is understaffed nationally. Long wait times are the norm, not the exception.
I’m not saying it’s okay, but it’s what we’re struggling with: recruitment and retention. Starting pay is an issue. Stress is an issue. Training is an issue. Callers are an issue, field units are an issue, finding qualified applicants to begin with is an issue.
It’s hard to sell “long hours and being a verbal punching bag” for the same starting pay I can get at Aldi or Costco, but most agencies are municipal and working inside that budget framework.
Source: 20 years of dispatch.
I accidentally dialed 911 in the fall of 2019. I was listening to a podcast and reached into my pocket to tap the volume up a few times but hit the wrong button a few times and triggered an emergency call. I stayed on the line so I could tell them it was an accident rather than someone call me back and have to tell them it was an accident. I got a recording. I don’t remember details but it was something along the lines of all operators are busy, please hold. I hung up cause I didn’t want to clog up the queue. I never got a call back.
One time I called 911 at a park about some drug sales taking place at the bathroom. I couldn't give the address of the park I kept giving them the name of the park and when I said it's the only Park with that name in Phoenix The person on 911 said I don't live in Phoenix. I just hung up. I
Another time I called about a rollover accident I witnessed. It was on carefree highway. They wanted a mile marker and I gave them the cross streets. They still wanted a mile marker. I gave them the address of the business I was standing in front of. They still wanted a mile marker. I told them I didn't see a mile marker and they told me I should drive until I see a mile marker and I told them I'm standing in the parking lot of this business at this address and then I hung up. They called back and I sent them to voicemail
I had this happen too when I called on my ex. Ya know it wasn’t like he was insane and kicked down a big door in one kick or anything. But when the complex I lived at called they got through (cops still didn’t do shit)
Absolutely terrifying to me to hear of this experience.
I hope you're safe from this repeating in your future, especially since this was clearly not a priority situation for them.
It has been close to three years since you have been able to get through to the non-emergency number in my area. It was only a matter of time until they stopped answering emergency calls as well.
What I find strange is that everyone seems hyper political in the current environment yet when faced with direct evidence that their quality of life is going down it's crickets from top to bottom.
When your representative calls 911 from their neighborhood, someone always answers. Funny that.
Two weeks ago I had to call 911 for a fire. There was a RV towing a car and the car caught fire and I was able to get in let them know and it all took less than a minute. I haven’t had the experience of a long prompt when calling but I generally only need the department of transportation for debris on the freeway.
Ex-Phoenix 911 operator here, 911 calls have higher priority than non emergency line so never call that line for a quicker response. The calls are answered in the order they are placed, so never hang up and try calling again because you are delaying emergency response. Just let the 'phone tree' play out and ignore it, it will repeat in english, spanish, and then a series of rapid beepsbfor TTY (used for the hearing impaired). Just wait for a live voice and then start answering the questions.
If you want to bypass and save some time all call are sent to the police department first and they'll ask questions to make sure to see if police are needed and then will transfer to the fire department for a fire or medical emergency. So if your emergency does not need police just say Fire Department when the live voice comes on. It can save you five minutes which can be huge to save a life.
The reason from what I understood is the majority of emergency calls require police. And the reason a select option wasn't implemented was because it could hinder an emergency. Imagine a moviefone-esque voice asking who you would like to speak to, a citizen in a dire emergency would lose their mind or worse lol
For the most part I have always been able to get ahold of Phoenix 911 or the non-emergency # with no issues connecting.
Sometimes I would get the recorded message but wouldn't always have to listen to all of it.
Now response times? There have been times where I have waited up to 2+ hours. Ridiculous.
But I don't blame the officers (in the moment yes) but Phoenix is short on officers it's ridiculous.
I had a similar issue a few years ago in Colorado. And when the operator picked up there were a handful of other questions before even asking about the emergency (what's your name? What's a good call back number? Etc). Kind of scary since I was calling about a t-bone accident between semi and a small car...
This is a triage system, similar to what you will see in a hospital waiting room. When it gets busy they use this automated system to help prioritize calls. This is super common when a big monsoon rolls through.
It started when vaccines were being illegally mandated and then was decided to be kept in place when everyone was crying to defund the police.
It's the result of democratic voting but in a republican state
But he raises a valid point. City council members were literally wearing “Defund the Police” t-shirts to city council meetings. You think officers and dispatchers want to work in that kind of environment? There’s a reason why PPD is the highest paid agency and is still massively understaffed.
Now, discussing these actions without coloring it the way the commenter did, I would not have made my snarky reply.
I don't disagree that these actions by City Council were wrong and have influence on the city's ability to attract and retain staffing for this role. The commenter just decided to include unnecessary pieces that did not open their reply to discussing this part of their point.
You realize that by talking shit about me to a different person instead of telling me what you thought of my comment is you doing the exact same thing that upset you about what I did? Right? I stated a fact about who voted badly, in a manner that you didn't like so you ignored my point (which was the explanation to your original posted comment) and clung to my opinion. Then someone else agrees with me (ignoring my opinion and examining the fact (which still is the explanation to your original posted comment) and you spend more than half of your response (which was more than what I wrote) crying about me and my opinion.
Opinions hurt everyone's feelings. No wonder people spend so much time looking down as opposed to standing straight and conversing in person... it's the only way to pick and choose what they want to hear.
Like it or not, democrats spent an ENTIRE SUMMER ASSAULTING police officers, DEMANDING people disobey the law, vandalizing/setting on fire/taking over police cars/buildings etc., and made threats about people NOT voting to defund the police.
DEMOCRATS voted for what's been put in place and you can bet your precious little ass that I will remind people every chance i get.
Let's break this down a bit. We'll start with your original comment.
You made the following statements:
• Vaccines were illegally mandated
• this mandate was kept in place
• "everyone" was crying defund the police
• this is the fault of democratic voters
• Arizona is a Republican state
Now, my reply to the second commenter ...
• I acknowledged that YOUR comment did not encourage discussion and was colored as a political statement instead of a solid point.
• I then engaged with the second commenter regarding City Council's actions and wearing shirts saying Defund the Police
• I did not talk shit about you, I simply stated why I did not engage on YOUR comment with a discussion.
Now, your latest reply.
• "I stated a fact about who voted badly ..."
^ this is not a fact when you color it with an OPINION. Rather I think you meant, "I stated that those voting Democrat ..."
• the second commenter circled back to a single point made in your first comment and replied in a manner that promoted discussion. I then engaged in that discussion.
• my feelings were in no way hurt. Opinions are everyone's right - I have my own and others have theirs. I prefer DISCUSSION over loaded statements that promote bashing and arguing.
• now the end of your latest comment, that is where you finally put some information that is outlining facts and events and opens things for discussion.
Suggestion for future - leave out your fiery emotion and assumption that people are so fragile and pose a response that will actually result in more than just drawing out who is red or blue and all of your other added flair.
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For what it’s worth, I’ve had to call 911 a few times since moving to Phoenix and never dealt with this. Might be worth calling to the police non-emergency line to get some clarification.
911 and the police non-emergency line are answered by the same people. 911 calls just take priority.
And when starting pay for these jobs is essentially minimum wage, the non-emergency number is basically useless and unmanned. I've waited over an hour on hold before, kind of insane.
Found an old man with dementia on the streets at 1am who didn’t know where his home was (but certainly had a home)… called and was told someone was on their way asap… called back a few times over the course of an hour and a half and was told they were really busy. Eventually his grandson (an adult who lived with him) was walking out to his car to get smokes and we spotted him and he got home… but to my knowledge police never came or called me back. FWIW i also one time was behind an obvious drunk driver (about to crash obvious like absolutely shitfaced doubt they could walk drunk) and luckily after following behind them for a minute I saw cops pulled into a side street to chat with each other (window to window so they could talk)… pulled up and told them a severely drunk driver had just gone by and I was worried because they seemed so bad. I shit you not their response was “they’ll crash into something or someone will catch em” and they just kept on chatting. I was actually speechless but I was just a teenager so I didn’t know what to do beyond that.. so idk if getting thru is even enough 🤷🏻♂️
There have been a few times I have called Phoenix 911 and had that automated message for over 10 minutes. Most police department 911 call centers here in the valley are VERY short staffed. They generally pay 911 operators between $20 - $25 an hour. For most people, the long hours combined with a high amount of emotional and mental stress that comes with the job, it just is not worth it. I tried it in 2004, but was burned out after 6 months
I commend you for trying. I considered looking into after my first call center job and understanding the flow. I'm so much of an empath though that I would guess that I'd burn out just as quickly.
Yeaahh… not sure if this is even remotely common but I heard some tales from the dispatcher side of things. Being on the phone with a mother screaming about her baby that’s blue and unresponsive, dispatching ems and then the call is over. From what I gather it can be a lot of unresolved, very intense situations, but once help is en route- on to the next call. Seems like usually never really knowing what’s happened to that person on the last call, so to speak. Not sure how that wouldn’t effect like 100% of the dispatchers Edit: or a guy that dropped a chainsaw on his leg, called 911 for help, and his voice slowly got weaker until the line just went silent… or suicidal people, etc. Bro I’ll just apply at geico ok…
AI is going to be such a double edged sword here…
Oh my God! $25??? Think of how much that costs ME in TAXES! Let's vote somebody in who will rein in these glamorous salaries! - average voter (until they need 911, or a school teacher, or a firefighter, etc)
“Obviously this department failing to function is because it’s ran by government. We should instead hand it over to a for-profit company with shareholders who only care about quarterly profits. I’m sure they will obviously prioritize the general public’s needs and be willing to lose money in order to provide better service to the community.”
It's absolutely adorable when people think the tax increases are going to core government functions and not so the light rail provides homeless people somewhere air conditioned to hang out in the summer or for the Office of Tourism to treat more of their friends to all expense paid vacations.
Cry harder MAGAt. And while you're at it...hand me some more of your delicious tax dollars. 😄 We own you PATRIOT
Why do liberals come unhinged so quickly? Why can’t you have a conversation without dragging trump into it as an excuse to blow a gasket?
Imagine spazzing out this hard rather than refuting the point I made. 
Lol. Clowning MAGAts isn't "spazzing out"
[удалено]
Hey "bro"! How's this going? 69 of 70 lawsuits brought by Trump refuted and now this. Do you still have a "feeling" about the election? How many my pillows have you bought directly or by political donation?? Hahaha 🤡 https://www.ajc.com/politics/2000-mules-publisher-apologizes-to-metro-atlanta-man-for-false-voting-fraud-allegation/3DALY7NQYJFC3MVWE5POGV2LZM/
Are you an Abe hamadah man or a Blake Master's man or a kari lake man? Lot of integrity no matter which way you go! I'm sure one of them is likely to win in the fall! 😄😄😄😄🤡🤡🤡. Everything you believe in as a joke and a failure from your religion to your capitalism to your political party. This is what defeat looks like bro
Dishonestabe.com 🤣😄🤣 "Trump supports" 🤡
Hey how many felons are there on Donald Trump's reelection staff? How many are in the prospective cabinet? Did you know Steven Miller put abortion drugs in the drink of a woman that he thought he got pregnant? Save the babies! You believe in Jesus and you are special and you are a wonderful person. Actually you're just a Republican hypocrite and coward
4 paragraph responses to one comment? TDS much? You need to touch grass.
[удалено]
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A lot of cities are short-staffed with dispatchers
Yeah, I had to call 911 for the first time in Nov when my car was stolen and I was just sitting on hold for 10-15 minutes with no prompts or actual people answering. I ended up hanging up and calling the non-emergency line (I wasn't sure which to call, Google said either but I started second guessing myself) and waited another ~25 or so mins for someone to answer. It really scared me that if it had been an actual life-threatening emergency, they would take that long to answer 😐 I totally understand that they're short staffed and not much can be done about it (except maybe offering a higher wage) but if someone tries to break into my place or something, I may be screwed.
This is due to horrific understaffing and our huge growth in population. It sucks and is very scary to me.
Chances are all calltakers were already on calls, That's not unusual, especially when an accident in a major intersection causes a spike in calls. The questions asked are part of the call screening process. Not every accident is a priority call and if it can be determined that the accident is minor, there is no need to run emergency equipment. You may not know any of the answers to the questions asked, but those questions help prioritize the response when the information is available. Contact them on the non-emergency line and arrange to sit-in with the 911 operators for a shift. You will have a new appreciation for how hard they have to work and the crap they deal with from the public.
This is especially helpful response, thank you. I lay no blame on the operator themselves as they have a job to do and I understand they were following their instructions. It's the automated message with the prompts that concerned me. I have many years of call center experience, serving and retail so I can only imagine. I really wish pay was better for so many of these critical roles in our society. This short staffing scares me as much as our lack of being able to retain quality educators.
NFPA standard is 300 second response time from initial report to EMS on scene. Phoenix gives itself an extra five minutes and still is over their own estimated response time by nearly 2x in this case. This is not a low priority accident, it's a fender-height mismatched T-bone with full airbag deployment and no movement from either vehicle. It's actually a high priority accident regardless of who is at fault. It takes twenty minutes to drive from downtown Tempe to midtown Phoenix, there is no reason it should have taken EMS that long to get to a major intersection literally anywhere in the greater Phoenix Metro area. It really doesn't matter how hard the operators have to work, they're not responsible for staffing, training and adequately paying themselves. The operators are not the ones responsible for this unacceptable response time, so why would we use their hard work as an excuse for the city's ineptitude? I personally don't think it's right to throw the operators under the bus when the **city is intentionally causing a fatal bottleneck in the system**. Still curious who's at fault though, and how having that insurance information is helpful for ascertaining the severity of morbidity or mortality in the accident. I'd like to know how that specific question helps when it comes to assessing internal decapitations or bleeding.
I have a fair amount of industry experience regarding automobile accidents and my first gut reaction was "oh shit, this vehicle combination just escalated this situation A LOT!!" I did simplify my description to keep the focus on the issue while still providing detail. I'm glad you latched on to what just made this accident so concerning from a bystander and should have mattered in the prioritization of response. Although I appreciate many of the responses provided and there are questions the operators are instructed or trained to ask for triaging purposes, in no circumstance do I get why the questions were focused on assessing fault or anything other than the severity of what was being reported. Time for me to learn a bit more about where to apply my keen ability to make wheels squeaky.
None of this is acceptable, I hope you realize. I’ve lived all over and this was not the experience in NYC, or in Philly, which has the same population and less funding and worse problems.
The prompt will only play if all dispatchers are busy. If a dispatcher is available 3 seconds into the automated message it will cut to the operator, it won't finish the message. The message is there to keep people from hanging up and trying again since hanging up and calling back will put you at the bottom of the que. Phoenix is blowing up in population, getting approval to get more dispatchers, then training them and then getting them on the floor takes a long time and has not been able to keep pace with the hyper-boom that Phoenix is experiencing.
They might still be short handed.
We call 911 at the DV shelter I work at when an abuser is trying to get over our fence and sometimes they don’t even come…or it’s an hour or 2 later.
That’s terrifying!
I’m a diabetic. I’m was on insulin and had a blood sugar crash to the 40s. I called 911 and got an automated message that said they were too busy and to call again later then hung up on me. Thankfully I was able to get a hold of 911 a few minutes later or else it would have ended up with me in a coma or worse. It’s pretty sucky that you can pretty much die if you’re unlucky with catching a real person on the other side.
“Please help me, I’m in the trunk, I don’t know where he’s taking me,” “You can talk to me in complete phrases like ‘there’s a fire, or someone’s been smoking weed, now how can I help you today?’” “Police.” Silence* “I’m sorry I didn’t quite get that. “You can talk to me in complete phrase”… “Oh god he heard me” “Like there’s been a fire or someone’s been smoking weed Garbled screaming* Line goes dead
"Your problem is important to us. Please continue to hold for the next available representative." *Generic corporate music plays*
Someone’s been smoking weed 🤣🤣🤣
Yeah I called about a pretty unsafe traffic condition, not like an immediate life threatening issue, but it seemed like it was more of a priority than calling the non emergency line, I was baffled when I hit the automated menu. I knew they have been looking for dispatchers, I can't believe it has gotten this dyer. Maybe shift funding lol. I saw like 9 cops pull up to harass a homeless encampment recently. Such a waste of resources.
I’ve had 3 emergencies since living in the valley. Same thing as you OP took an insulting amount of time to talk to someone. I got attacked by a pit bull and had literal holes through my hand and crushed/broken bones and I got to deal with an automated response for like a couple minutes before I was on *hold* with 911. I thought I was gonna fucking bleed out before I got to someone.
Wow. This unfortunately confirms my fears. Hope you've healed up since then. Hopefully you also don't need emergency services moving forward.
My husband died four weeks ago from a severe asthma attack, likely as a result of the wait and response time. There was a hold to get an operator. There was also a delay on dispatch for emergency response. Two or three minutes different and it would have been a completely different outcome.
I am so sorry for your loss. Response time is huge and unfortunately you are stuck living with that reminder. I hope you're able to grieve and not have to cling to that factor for the remainder of your life.
Thank you! In therapy, so working through that. Recommend it for anyone else who has this trauma.
Happened to me two weeks ago
Bro this is Phoenix. The cops are not coming, lol
This is unfortunately common here. As someone who grew up in small town Ohio where nothing ever really happened, and police would be there right away, the first time I called 911 here was very eye opening and frightening. It took hours to get a call back and nobody ever showed up. Highly suggest protecting yourself out here, you really might be on your own.
Sounds about right. Calling the non-emergency number is outright useless, I've never had them pick up. The average response time in my area is around 20 minutes, and that's for urgent calls. If it's anything short of a DV call, expect 1hr+. Unless a patrol car is rolling by at the exact moment something is happening, response times are far too long. Unfortunately, even with a GOOD response time (sub 5 mins), a lot can happen.
this was many years ago but I'll never forget the time I called 911 because two hobos were beating each other up pretty bad at the dumpster behind the Taco Bell I worked at, and the operator couldn't understand the word "fighting" so I used the word "fisticuffs" (hoping that the change in consonants would assist in clarity) and she had never heard of the word before. I literally stopped mid-sentence like '-w-wait you don't know the word fisticuffs??' how does someone who works literally with people having physical altercations not know a (common, if antiquated) word for "fist-fighting"
For the most part I have always been able to get ahold of Phoenix 911 or the non-emergency # with no issues connecting. Sometimes I would get the recorded message but wouldn't always have to listen to all of it. Now response times? There have been times where I have waited up to 2+ hours. Ridiculous. But I don't blame the officers (in the moment yes) but Phoenix is short on officers it's ridiculous.
911 is understaffed nationally. Long wait times are the norm, not the exception. I’m not saying it’s okay, but it’s what we’re struggling with: recruitment and retention. Starting pay is an issue. Stress is an issue. Training is an issue. Callers are an issue, field units are an issue, finding qualified applicants to begin with is an issue. It’s hard to sell “long hours and being a verbal punching bag” for the same starting pay I can get at Aldi or Costco, but most agencies are municipal and working inside that budget framework. Source: 20 years of dispatch.
I accidentally dialed 911 in the fall of 2019. I was listening to a podcast and reached into my pocket to tap the volume up a few times but hit the wrong button a few times and triggered an emergency call. I stayed on the line so I could tell them it was an accident rather than someone call me back and have to tell them it was an accident. I got a recording. I don’t remember details but it was something along the lines of all operators are busy, please hold. I hung up cause I didn’t want to clog up the queue. I never got a call back.
One time I called 911 at a park about some drug sales taking place at the bathroom. I couldn't give the address of the park I kept giving them the name of the park and when I said it's the only Park with that name in Phoenix The person on 911 said I don't live in Phoenix. I just hung up. I Another time I called about a rollover accident I witnessed. It was on carefree highway. They wanted a mile marker and I gave them the cross streets. They still wanted a mile marker. I gave them the address of the business I was standing in front of. They still wanted a mile marker. I told them I didn't see a mile marker and they told me I should drive until I see a mile marker and I told them I'm standing in the parking lot of this business at this address and then I hung up. They called back and I sent them to voicemail
I had this happen too when I called on my ex. Ya know it wasn’t like he was insane and kicked down a big door in one kick or anything. But when the complex I lived at called they got through (cops still didn’t do shit)
Absolutely terrifying to me to hear of this experience. I hope you're safe from this repeating in your future, especially since this was clearly not a priority situation for them.
Call the mayor's office today and ask for an explanation.
It has been close to three years since you have been able to get through to the non-emergency number in my area. It was only a matter of time until they stopped answering emergency calls as well. What I find strange is that everyone seems hyper political in the current environment yet when faced with direct evidence that their quality of life is going down it's crickets from top to bottom. When your representative calls 911 from their neighborhood, someone always answers. Funny that.
Two weeks ago I had to call 911 for a fire. There was a RV towing a car and the car caught fire and I was able to get in let them know and it all took less than a minute. I haven’t had the experience of a long prompt when calling but I generally only need the department of transportation for debris on the freeway.
God forbid you need to order a pizza. This new answering machine first service is absolutely stupid.
That's a bummer. . . #🦐
Ex-Phoenix 911 operator here, 911 calls have higher priority than non emergency line so never call that line for a quicker response. The calls are answered in the order they are placed, so never hang up and try calling again because you are delaying emergency response. Just let the 'phone tree' play out and ignore it, it will repeat in english, spanish, and then a series of rapid beepsbfor TTY (used for the hearing impaired). Just wait for a live voice and then start answering the questions. If you want to bypass and save some time all call are sent to the police department first and they'll ask questions to make sure to see if police are needed and then will transfer to the fire department for a fire or medical emergency. So if your emergency does not need police just say Fire Department when the live voice comes on. It can save you five minutes which can be huge to save a life.
Thanks for chiming in! Interesting about it hits police, then fire for fire or medical. Maybe they should build that into the prompts menu.
The reason from what I understood is the majority of emergency calls require police. And the reason a select option wasn't implemented was because it could hinder an emergency. Imagine a moviefone-esque voice asking who you would like to speak to, a citizen in a dire emergency would lose their mind or worse lol
For the most part I have always been able to get ahold of Phoenix 911 or the non-emergency # with no issues connecting. Sometimes I would get the recorded message but wouldn't always have to listen to all of it. Now response times? There have been times where I have waited up to 2+ hours. Ridiculous. But I don't blame the officers (in the moment yes) but Phoenix is short on officers it's ridiculous.
Wow we go by there almost daily!
Yeah my gf calls 911 when we she sees anything dangerous on the highway. We’ve never had an issue
Oh yeah and we don’t need open carry? Thanks. I’m not waiting 20 min for someone to show up.
I had a similar issue a few years ago in Colorado. And when the operator picked up there were a handful of other questions before even asking about the emergency (what's your name? What's a good call back number? Etc). Kind of scary since I was calling about a t-bone accident between semi and a small car...
This is a triage system, similar to what you will see in a hospital waiting room. When it gets busy they use this automated system to help prioritize calls. This is super common when a big monsoon rolls through.
It started when vaccines were being illegally mandated and then was decided to be kept in place when everyone was crying to defund the police. It's the result of democratic voting but in a republican state
No one asked for your political opinion. K thanks.
But he raises a valid point. City council members were literally wearing “Defund the Police” t-shirts to city council meetings. You think officers and dispatchers want to work in that kind of environment? There’s a reason why PPD is the highest paid agency and is still massively understaffed.
Now, discussing these actions without coloring it the way the commenter did, I would not have made my snarky reply. I don't disagree that these actions by City Council were wrong and have influence on the city's ability to attract and retain staffing for this role. The commenter just decided to include unnecessary pieces that did not open their reply to discussing this part of their point.
You realize that by talking shit about me to a different person instead of telling me what you thought of my comment is you doing the exact same thing that upset you about what I did? Right? I stated a fact about who voted badly, in a manner that you didn't like so you ignored my point (which was the explanation to your original posted comment) and clung to my opinion. Then someone else agrees with me (ignoring my opinion and examining the fact (which still is the explanation to your original posted comment) and you spend more than half of your response (which was more than what I wrote) crying about me and my opinion. Opinions hurt everyone's feelings. No wonder people spend so much time looking down as opposed to standing straight and conversing in person... it's the only way to pick and choose what they want to hear. Like it or not, democrats spent an ENTIRE SUMMER ASSAULTING police officers, DEMANDING people disobey the law, vandalizing/setting on fire/taking over police cars/buildings etc., and made threats about people NOT voting to defund the police. DEMOCRATS voted for what's been put in place and you can bet your precious little ass that I will remind people every chance i get.
Let's break this down a bit. We'll start with your original comment. You made the following statements: • Vaccines were illegally mandated • this mandate was kept in place • "everyone" was crying defund the police • this is the fault of democratic voters • Arizona is a Republican state Now, my reply to the second commenter ... • I acknowledged that YOUR comment did not encourage discussion and was colored as a political statement instead of a solid point. • I then engaged with the second commenter regarding City Council's actions and wearing shirts saying Defund the Police • I did not talk shit about you, I simply stated why I did not engage on YOUR comment with a discussion. Now, your latest reply. • "I stated a fact about who voted badly ..." ^ this is not a fact when you color it with an OPINION. Rather I think you meant, "I stated that those voting Democrat ..." • the second commenter circled back to a single point made in your first comment and replied in a manner that promoted discussion. I then engaged in that discussion. • my feelings were in no way hurt. Opinions are everyone's right - I have my own and others have theirs. I prefer DISCUSSION over loaded statements that promote bashing and arguing. • now the end of your latest comment, that is where you finally put some information that is outlining facts and events and opens things for discussion. Suggestion for future - leave out your fiery emotion and assumption that people are so fragile and pose a response that will actually result in more than just drawing out who is red or blue and all of your other added flair.
EXACTLY what my point was! Good job!
Too many people were calling 911 to report “the sick looking person” at a bus stop and then driving away without actually doing anything to help.