911 Calls in the US

EternalGriever

EternalGriever

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So here's the thing, one of my friends is working on a certain project and met a certain question/problem. He needs to know what sort of criteria MUST be met for a 911 dispatcher in US to take a call/request as a serious one and respond accordingly. Can the call be spoken by a program, not a person, but contain all the necessary information like location, what happened, to whom, etc?

I know we have a lot of people here, some who worked for fire departments and police, hence I am hoping I could get an answer to this question here.

Cheers!
EG
 
You could probably get a dozen different answers depending on location/law/policy, but I think a lot of times it comes down to how "believable" the caller is. A lot of it can come down to the dispatcher's discretion which can lead to unfortunate results as sometimes comes up in the news.

There has been talk of removing the ability of mobiles not having service to call 911 because of some percentage (I don't recall how high) being prank calls.

As far as I know, at least where I am, is anything truly automated (building fire panel, higher-end burglar alarms) bypasses the dispatcher and goes directly to either a monitoring company like Johnson Controls (Fire panels) or directly to the relevant agency (where I went to college, all the dorms were set up to ring an alarm in the fire hall directly).
 
Knowing my decent public safety knowledge, I would say that usually Law Enforcement is sent out to any type of 911 call just to make sure everything is alright because you really never know. Keep in mind that people can be fined for prank calling 911 and even some times jailed.

As for a program being able to do it, I don't think so. I would say it would take atleast a year to get everything a dispatcher is capable of doing to be programmed. Because they aren't just taught how to take your information, hang up, and be done with you at that point. Sometimes, they may help instruct you how to perform CPR or what you should do to make yourself safer in a time of trouble. and Vice Versa. If I call 911 in a time of trouble, I would like to speak to a person who can assure me someone is on the way or help me do something.
 
"Back in the day" I worked the night shift at a 7-11 in Southern California, and was issued a "panic button." Essentially it was an early generation garage door opener, but it triggered something that took over the phone, called 911, and repeated a loop recording of "robbery in progress, 7-11 store," and the address.

I would imagine that you need to ask the actual agency which answers the phone where the device is being used to make sure that they will respond. I know my city police with triangulate a cell phone call to respond if they don't get enough information, but my County Sheriff won't dispatch to a cell phone unless the caller stays on the line and gives a street address.

Papa
 
Even if a call is a prank/hoax it must still be taken seriously by any dispatcher. A unit or units must still be dispatched to the location to verify. Same goes for 911 hangups most places still send a unit even if the person says oh there ok they might still be in distress and acting. Places like stores and repeat calls from various locations are logged into most CAD systems for dispatchers and police units. If someone abuses the system too many times for non emergencies or for prank calls then they will be fined or jailed for their offences.
 
He needs to know what sort of criteria MUST be met for a 911 dispatcher in US to take a call/request as a serious one and respond accordingly.

We take every call seriously, whether it sounds fake or not. We have discretion on how we respond to a call most of the time, but 911 calls are mandatory response, even if the caller says there is no longer a problem. Sometimes we can only go so far with a call and then we can't go any further, which isn't any fun because you never like to give up.

Can the call be spoken by a program, not a person, but contain all the necessary information like location, what happened, to whom, etc?

Here we use language lines which means another party translates the call, TTY, you can email/fax calls depending on the nature of it, and we are about to start SMS/text call taking. Most come in over the phone though, which is good because it's easier to collect as evidence.

If ya have any more questions feel free to msg me, i'm active law enforcement. =P
 
EternalGriever said:
So here's the thing, one of my friends is working on a certain project and met a certain question/problem. He needs to know what sort of criteria MUST be met for a 911 dispatcher in US to take a call/request as a serious one and respond accordingly. Can the call be spoken by a program, not a person, but contain all the necessary information like location, what happened, to whom, etc?

I know we have a lot of people here, some who worked for fire departments and police, hence I am hoping I could get an answer to this question here.

Cheers!
EG
Click to expand...
After thinking about it. Some people in this world have disorders and cannot speak yet using vocal muscles as well as some movement can form words from the use of technology to speak for them. Such as someone with MS etc. If they needed help? They would have to call 911 and communicate using computer technology. Is interesting post after thinking about it some :)
 
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