S03.E12: 9-1-1 Emergency Telephone Number

[Athena]

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Segments: Donald Trump presidential campaign, Elizabeth II filmed calling Chinese officials "very rude", Budweiser beer renamed to America beer, Paul LePage, 9-1-1 emergency telephone number

 

[OneWhoLurks]

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John Oliver, last night, showed the story on the death of Shanell Anderson. Anderson, who had driven off a road into a pond in Cherokee County, Georgia, was able to call 911 as her SUV sank. She clearly provided an exact location: “The Fairway off of Batesville.” Anderson even gave the Zip Code. The problem for Anderson was the cell tower her call hit didn’t route it to 911 in Cherokee County. Instead it went to nearby Alpharetta, Georgia in Fulton County.

The 911 call taker was stumped by Ms. Anderson’s call because the streets and the intersection were not in the database for her jurisdiction and there was no reliable locator information coming from the cell phone. Keefe and 911 officials immediately blamed Anderson’s death on the lack of technology and never looked at the real reason help didn’t arrive in time for Anderson — poor training and procedures. It’s a myth that Oliver’s mostly excellent coverage has now helped spread even further and wider.

The truth is Shanell Anderson would have received help much sooner if the call taker, when her computer didn’t compute, had simply asked, “What county are you in?”

 

John Oliver’s 911 take-down is important but incomplete

[dustylil]

2 hours ago, OneWhoLurks said:

The truth is Shanell Anderson would have received help much sooner if the call taker, when her computer didn’t compute, had simply asked, “What county are you in?”

I am a foreigner so perhaps this is a stupid question.  Didn't that poor lady provide the Zip code in addition to her location  to the dispatcher? Wouldn't that have provided  additional and useful locator information to the 9-1-1 staff?

[fastiller]

7 hours ago, dustylil said:

I am a foreigner so perhaps this is a stupid question.  Didn't that poor lady provide the Zip code in addition to her location  to the dispatcher? Wouldn't that have provided  additional and useful locator information to the 9-1-1 staff?

She may not have known the ZIP code she was in.  They don't necessarily cover an entire county, or town, or city.  You can drive through several on a short(-ish) drive.

I'll put my two-cents in: in September, 2013 my husband had an heart attack* in a park in Queens NY.  Because we were in a park, I couldn't give the 9-1-1 operator an address, just "I'm on this street, near this intersection, in the park near the tennis courts..."  And of course I was in total control and not panicking at all when trying to describe -a- what was happening & -b- where the fµ¢k we were.  The ambulance went to the other side of the park.  I'm pretty sure he was dead before they put him into the ambulance.  I regret not having filed a notice of claim within the required 90 days but again, my head wasn't really all that straight for about a year-and-a-half afterwards.

I have no earthy idea why they can't track cell phones for 9-1-1 purposes.  Well, I have an idea, but that's for a political rant site, not p.tv.

 

*well, that's what the death certificate said, I'm still iffy about that.

[dusang]

12 hours ago, OneWhoLurks said:

The truth is Shanell Anderson would have received help much sooner if the call taker, when her computer didn’t compute, had simply asked, “What county are you in?”

I live in a large city, so the location issues for 911 might not be as bad for me, but even on the occasions when I'm in rural areas, asking me "what county are you in?" would be approximately as meaningful as asking "what is your longitude & latitude?" -- I would have no clue.  Although, in 2016 you'd think the operator would just Google it.  Seriously, I literally just put in "Batesville & Fairway, Georgia" and GOT THE INTERSECTION.

fastiller I'm so sorry for your loss.

[fastiller]

@dusang - thanks.

Emergency Service's lack of ability to pinpoint a cell location is really down to how much any given municipality is willing to beef up the system.  Anyone from outside the US reading this?  How well can your municipality's Emergency Services find you by your cell?  I seem to recall reading that in Europe it's pretty much standard, but I could be wrong about that.

[WhatDoYouKnow]

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I am a foreigner so perhaps this is a stupid question.  Didn't that poor lady provide the Zip code in addition to her location  to the dispatcher? Wouldn't that have provided  additional and useful locator information to the 9-1-1 staff?

I was under the impression that the operator knew approximately where she was (the town or whatever) but the operator couldn't find the intersection because one of the streets didn't show up on her map or whatever. The woman was delivering papers, right? I assume she was at least somewhat familiar with her location and at least knew what town she was in (though maybe she didn't.)

In that case, zip code wouldn't help. Depending on population, a zip code can encompass an entire town. Large cities would have multiple zip codes, but they still wouldn't narrow anything down much. I know in some places, the post code can get you very close to an exact address, but that isn't the case with American zip codes.

Also, if you asked me to name the zip code of most of the towns near me, I would only be able to come up with some of them.

[b2H]

One of my husband's best friends is a 9-1-1 dispatcher in our area.  I really want to know if she's seen this piece and, if so, what she could contribute to the discussion - she's been doing it for years.

[dcalley]

I'm in a city and once called 911, gave the intersection exactly as it says on the street signs, and the operator got snippy with me because she didn't have it as a valid intersection. Granted, it's two alleys crossing, but they have their own names, there are city-installed street signs right there, and the intersection comes up on google maps. I should take a picture of the signs and submit it to 311.

[fastiller]

4 hours ago, b2H said:

One of my husband's best friends is a 9-1-1 dispatcher in our area.  I really want to know if she's seen this piece and, if so, what she could contribute to the discussion - she's been doing it for years.

Please do ask her.  I'd be interested in her thoughts.

[stillshimpy]

Yeah, I've insisted that we keep a landline for emergency services but that only helps at home. By the way, most of the time when I am out in the world if someone asked me my precise location my answer would likely be profane in the extreme in an emergency because I would be pretty unlikely to know.  I just moved from a state with hundreds of tiny towns and streets that cut off in one area, pick up in another, etc.  The only reason that poor woman might have been saved had she known her county is that she was delivering papers on a route she knew. Training would have helped, but trying to put the bulk of the responsibility for pinpointing an accurate location description on people in the midst of an emergency is not likely to solve much. 

 

Plus, my freaking phone could tell me the nearest restaurants by type and specified dollar amounts. It is absurd that dominoes can accurately route my call my efficiently than emergency services can in terms of correctly identifying where I am on the planet.

Also, fastiller there genuinely aren't enough words in the English language to convey my sympathy. Many, many years ago when I was 15 and alone with my dad, he died in the same manner. No need for sympathy on that one, it was literally 30 +years ago. I'm just bringing it up because, for real, I am so sorry that happened.

[IvySpice]

I had a bike accident in a forest preserve called Waterfall Glen. My lung partially collapsed and we had to call 911 because I couldn't walk or ride out. It's a several-mile loop, but we were right by the waterfall, which is a pretty big landmark in WATERFALL GLEN. The 911 operator and ambulance driver were totally flummoxed. It took them over 45 minutes to find me (it's at most a 5-minute drive from the highway). It's not exactly unusual for there to be injuries on a hiking/biking trail. My life wasn't in danger, but if I'd had a heart attack, I would have been in fastiller's situation. I'm so sorry.

[OneWhoLurks]

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Some North Idaho residents can now text to 911. 

Dispatch centers in Bonner, Shoshone and Kootenai counties, as well as the Post Falls Police, can now receive emergency text messages. However, the dispatch centers can only receive texts from those with plans from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Comcast, according to a news release. 

Text to 911 now available for some in North Idaho

[OneWhoLurks]

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The last five weeks have been very important in the world of 911 policy. So big, in fact, that 911 policy issues actually crossed the line into the mainstream (and away from the rarified space of policy nerds, first responders, and those who support them).

First, in mid-May, HBO's John Oliver raised the profile of the vulnerabilities of the current 911 network on his popular weekly show, "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, " as you can watch in this clip.

Secondly, Kari's Law, a small but powerful piece of legislation (requiring minor technical tweaks that stand to have an incredibly positive impact on those calling for emergency assistance when time is absolutely of the essence) moved from state legislatures to the U.S. House of Representatives where it received overwhelming support when it came to a vote on May 23. There's no date yet for its vote in the U.S. Senate, but the fact that's on the federal radar in an official way is a significant step forward.

 

Hot News from the 911 Front

[OneWhoLurks]

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Police work is inherently difficult. Cops need to balance competing cases, are occasionally threatened, and must make decisions each day that will permanently affect the people they deal with. It's a job that requires level-headedness, emotional resolve, and vast amounts of bravery.

The job also requires getting addresses right. In a lawsuit filed last week in federal court, former Hollywood resident Chris John Christenson claims that after a resident in his condominium complex called to report a domestic violence incident, four Hollywood cops barged into Christenson's home, slammed a door onto his torso, illegally searched his house, and pointed guns at his head  — until they realized they had the wrong home.

[...]

Dispatch slip-ups can lead to other problems. As we covered yesterday, one alleged mistake at the hands of the Broward Sheriff's Office 911 dispatch — which sends out messages to cops across the county — cost one 32-year-old father, Eduarduo Prieto Jr., his life. Prieto had shoplifted at a Hallandale Beach Walmart and escaped after flashing a pocket knife at security. Somehow, the dispatcher ended up telling police Prieto was armed with a gun, and he was ultimately shot to death. No gun was found, and the family has since filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against BSO, the City of Hallandale Beach, and Walmart.

After police wrongly came to his apartment instead of a neighbor's in 2012, Chris John Christenson last week sued the City of Hollywood for false arrest/false imprisonment, trespassing, invasion of privacy, negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligence, battery, and assault. He's also suing four individual cops for false arrest, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conducting an illegal search.

 

Hollywood Cops Allegedly Barged Into Wrong Home, Pointed Guns at Man's Head

[AmandaPanda]

Along with worrying about whether 911 will actually be able to find me when I call them, I can now add worrying about whether or not anyone will even answer. I live in Baltimore and 911 went down for 2 1/2 hours last week. The city tweeted out an alternate number to call, but who knows how many emergencies went unanswered because no one could get a hold of the police. 

[OneWhoLurks]

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Washington DC is considering utilizing drivers from Uber or similar services to help shift some of the lowest priority calls away from ambulances. According to NBC Washington 4, Washington, DC city emergency services are thinking outside the box when it comes to dealing with low-level emergency calls by utilizing third-party services such as Uber or local taxi companies to help ease the demand on the system.

Major metro areas in the United States have seen the call rates at 911 call centers steadily increase in recent years, often with calls that aren’t considered true emergencies.

NBC spoke with Washington D.C FEMS Chief Gregory Dean, who noted that he was considering adding nursing staff to 911 Call Centers. The medical personnel will be on hand to evaluate the calls and to determine whether or not an ambulance is necessary. One of the considerations is working with alternative modes of transportation, such as Uber, to bring low-priority patients to a doctor, rather than an emergency room.

 

Washington DC considers supplementing ambulances with Uber and other ride services

[OneWhoLurks]

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In a post on the Google Europe blog, Google announced that an Emergency Location Service feature in Android would send location information automatically when someone calls emergency services.

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Currently it’s only available in England and Estonia. As an aside, if you’re surprised that Estonia is on that list, its worth reading about some of the really ambitious ways they’re using technology on a national scale.

Implementation in the United States will likely be more challenging given the fragmentation of the emergency response system. But similar to the forays of Google and Apple into healthcare in general, these companies are uniquely poised to solve that problem and make this service more broadly available.

 

Android smartphones to send location info when calling emergency services in several countries

[OneWhoLurks]

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On Wednesday night, at a town hall meeting in Berwick, LePage was asked about month-old remarks that described most drug dealers in the state as black or Hispanic people with thuggish names.

"I made the comment that black people are trafficking in our state, now ever since I said that comment I’ve been collecting every single drug dealer who has been arrested in our state,” LePage said, according to the Portland Press Herald. “I don’t ask them to come to Maine and sell their poison, but they come and I will tell you that 90-plus percent of those pictures in my book, and it’s a three-ringed binder, are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Conn., the Bronx and Brooklyn.”

The next day, as the comment went viral, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine issued a Freedom of Information Act request asking for the binder, noting that LePage had suggested an "alarming disparity in arrests" given data that shows white and nonwhite people committing drug crimes at an equal rate. In a stormy encounter with the press, LePage repeated himself, but refused to reveal who was in the binder.

 

With four-letter words and a secret binder, Maine’s governor starts row over race and crime