I was driving home from woodland hills to downtown LA this evening about 730pm. the traffic gets all slow on the 101, not a surprise really. then I see the cause. there is a roll of carpet burning by the central divider (but very close to a traffic lane). I figure I'll do my civic duty and call 911. first time no answer, busy signal, and 2nd and 3rd. on about the 5th attempt i get to a pre recorded message telling me they are experiencing a high volume of calls. (no sh*t sherlock). anyway, by that point I was on another freeway and about 20 mins past the incident. I get home and about 15 mins later my phone rings. I answer, and it's a 911 op saying they had my number.I hold my tongue and tell them what I saw. fortunately it wasn't a mugging, carjacking or other real emergency. and this is a state and especially city that truly frowns on the armed citizen. so, to recap, just over an hour after first attempted contact 911 calls back.
__________________ A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it an appearance of being right-Thomas Paine
That is BS that it took them that long, although I do wonder how much that could be from other people calling about the same thing. I still don't see that as an excuse, though.
That is BS that it took them that long, although I do wonder how much that could be from other people calling about the same thing. I still don't see that as an excuse, though.
knowing what LA drivers are like (and, much to my shame, i'm one of them from time to time). they slowed down to look, then carried on on their way.
that's the first time I've called 911 in LA, and like I said, i'm glad it wasn't a life threatening emergency. of course, it's halloween so there is probably more crazy crap then usual going on.
__________________ A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it an appearance of being right-Thomas Paine
That is BS that it took them that long, although I do wonder how much that could be from other people calling about the same thing. I still don't see that as an excuse, though.
Stats for LA county 911 dispatchers covering Los Angeles and surrounding area.
Last year there were more than 450,000 calls to the dispatch centers. The Primary dispatch center’s minimum staffing consists of two supervisors and 12 dispatchers, with maximums of three supervisors and 19 dispatchers to handle the 1,400 phone calls received daily.
Thats just over 58 calls an hour. Or almost one every minute.
On average emergency incidents rise 5% every year and phone calls increase 3% every year.
There are 61 trunk lines into the center which go to 39 police dispatch areas
19 City Police Departments
18 County Sheriff Stations
1 California Highway Patrol Dispatch
1 State University Police Department
Thats for police, then they have the fire/rescue/EMS calls as well.
Also provide Fire/EMS support for Los Angeles County Lifeguards, a division within the Los Angeles County Fire Department and are responsible for the entire coastline of Los Angeles County, excluding Long Beach Harbor.
Provide Fire support to the California Dept. of Forestry (CDF) and United States Forest Service in their jurisdictional areas.
-Coverage area: 2236 square miles
-Population coverage: 4,638,912
-Current Fire stations: 164
-Have mutual aid agreements with five surrounding counties and all other adjoining Independent Fire Departments.
Those dispatchers are working their tails off. And its no wonder the system might put you on hold as all the dispatchers are on the lines with other people.
(On a side note I cant tell you some of the stupid rediculous crap that people call 911 for too. Which just clogs up the system with crap when there are people with actual important information or requests which need to get through)
If you want more the tax payers are gonna have to pay for it. California's population is pretty much already taxed to the max and the state is broke as it is. Thats not the dispatch systems fault thats politics for ya.
I tried to make a non-emergency call to the sherrif,s dept and had to go about 8 things to get through.Gave up and called 911 and got right through.That was Mich.In Elkhart county Ind.,a case I know of,an older couple,the woman is on some kind of life support or something that requires a 220volt hookup so the man had a 220volt generator installed as backup in case of power failure.This was not a cheap setup. Someone stole the generator so he used 911 and called the county sherrifs dept..A week went by with no response so he called again and asked why they hadn't done anything.They told him they hadn't been invited to his house yet.I sugested calling the Indiana state police which I had always found an outstanding law enforcement branch.The closest post was in Bremen,Ind.which is in a different county than Elkhart.They informed him that it was county jurisdiction and they couldn't help.If you aren't highly insured for any loss and can't defend yourself,probably calling 911 isn't going to do much good.With all of the politics and budget cuts there is today,law inforcement isn't something to depend on.And it just gets worse the more they modernise it. ,,,sam.
Stats for LA county 911 dispatchers covering Los Angeles and surrounding area.
Last year there were more than 450,000 calls to the dispatch centers. The Primary dispatch center’s minimum staffing consists of two supervisors and 12 dispatchers, with maximums of three supervisors and 19 dispatchers to handle the 1,400 phone calls received daily.
Thats just over 58 calls an hour. Or almost one every minute.
On average emergency incidents rise 5% every year and phone calls increase 3% every year.
There are 61 trunk lines into the center which go to 39 police dispatch areas
19 City Police Departments
18 County Sheriff Stations
1 California Highway Patrol Dispatch
1 State University Police Department
Thats for police, then they have the fire/rescue/EMS calls as well.
Also provide Fire/EMS support for Los Angeles County Lifeguards, a division within the Los Angeles County Fire Department and are responsible for the entire coastline of Los Angeles County, excluding Long Beach Harbor.
Provide Fire support to the California Dept. of Forestry (CDF) and United States Forest Service in their jurisdictional areas.
-Coverage area: 2236 square miles
-Population coverage: 4,638,912
-Current Fire stations: 164
-Have mutual aid agreements with five surrounding counties and all other adjoining Independent Fire Departments.
Those dispatchers are working their tails off. And its no wonder the system might put you on hold as all the dispatchers are on the lines with other people.
(On a side note I cant tell you some of the stupid rediculous crap that people call 911 for too. Which just clogs up the system with crap when there are people with actual important information or requests which need to get through)
If you want more the tax payers are gonna have to pay for it. California's population is pretty much already taxed to the max and the state is broke as it is. Thats not the dispatch systems fault thats politics for ya.
Its quite a problem.
This is why I live (thank God) where I do in Texas. Never had a problem with response.
__________________
God gives us free will; the statist tries to take it away
And citizens who don't own guns wonder why gun owners are so fond of the saying, "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."
I've had occasion to call 9-1-1 up here. Both times, it took 30 minutes for the police to arrive. It's a good thing it wasn't a medical emergency or an armed intruder or something, isn't it? The bottom line is although you won't have any trouble getting through to the 9-1-1 operator here, there's no guarantee there will be either a state or county cruiser available and in your area when you need one. Most likely, there won't be.
My insurance company is delighted that I live a mile and a half from the local firehouse (a volunteer company, and a very good one that does EMS as well as fire) and eight minutes by road from the NY State Police substation that covers my county. Still, 30 minutes to respond... It's a good thing we don't have a whole lot of crime up here.
I am happy that the police response time is no joke 30 seconds to 3 minutes for a priority call. Maybe 5 if there is really bad traffic where I live. A lot better than LA!
It can take up to rwo hours, or never, to get a response, where we live. Thankfully, we have the right to defend ourselves in Oklahoma. The medical response is almost as bad, though. I don't depend on them, anymore, because a person could bleed out in the length of time it took them to get here, when my wife slipped and cut her forehead.
