The worst abuses of 911 you can remember (let's have some laughs)

[ems-buff 81]

This is nothing new. Many people consider an emergency to be anything that is important or annoys them. People used 911 for just about every type of call imaginable. Here are a few

That I can recall:

• A man called 911 and wanted a police report confirming that his cable TV was not working so he could claim a refund for the day.
• A lady called 911 wanting to file a police report because her insurance company needed a report for the jewelry she lost in the Bahamas. She was advised that 911 is only for emergencies. She stated that she was busy and didnt have time to look up the non-emergency number in the phone book and with the taxes she paid why should she have to pay for directory assistance. 911 is just so convenient and since I am on the phone, cant you just send someone over here now so I can file my claim. This would be for an incident that occurred in the Bahamas? She confirmed this and was advised that she would have to report the incident were it happened.
• Before cell phones, people would call 911 on pay phones to report parking violations so they would not have to pay the 25 cents.
• Calls about a parade in another jurisdiction
• Could we send someone over and change a light bulb.
• Is there school today?

We could start a new thread on some of the worst abuses of 911.

[shfirefighter 19]

-Male called and requested an ambulance because his hemorrhoids where bothering him

-Female called and requested an ambulance because she forgot to take her medication

-Man called 911 because his keys fell down the sewer grate

-Man called 911 because his neighbor was hitting golf balls into his yard (he made no attempt to talk to the man before calling)

-Family called 911 because there child wouldn't brush their teeth before bed

[JCESU 20]

-bf/gf won't give his/her drugs back or took them (very common job)

[yeoj251 5]

Several locals called 911 because..."My electricity went out."

[Reliance 29]

People calling 911 because the wires are arcing in the trees and want the fire department to water the trees before the power company gets there.

Calling 911 because the cat ran away & won't come back or is up in a tree.

[firemoose827 324]

I thought for sure this one would have been brought up already and was shocked to see it not mentioned;

I loved the one where the woman called 911 because they got her order wrong at the drive through and she kept arguing with the dispatcher that it's wrong they couldnt get her order right and she is a busy mother who needed to get dinner for her kids while on their way to soccer and they got the order wrong and she wants a police officer to take a report and the dispatcher actually got mad and told her 911 is for emergencies, she isnt going to send a unit over because her burgers were wrong...classic call that I thought everyone would remember!! The woman refused to enter the restaurant to complain and get another burger to replace it but she would sit in the parking lot on the phone with 911 for an hour trying to get PD to respond and "Issue Justice" for her burgers...LOL

[Westfield12 65]

Some people in Fairfield, CT recently called 911 about their cable being out. Not joking. Another guy called about an employee at a deli got his order wrong. And we all remember the classic "chicken nuggets" call.

[SOUSGT 357]

Received a 911 call about a violation of an order of protection. Upon arrival we found a soon to be ex husband and wife both sitting on a couch in the living room. Both were on a phone (Separate lines) to their lawyers. Each insisted that we talk to their lawyer first. We determined that both had an order of protection against each other and both claimed that the other broke the order. After we received a few details we determined that both had violated the order and we arrested both. I flipped a coin and told each lawyer that both were under arrest and they could visit their clients at HQ.

That was the last call we received from that house.

Received a 911 call from a parent wanting a police officer to tell his kid to do his homework.

I can’t tell you how many 911 hang-ups we received by someone trying to call overseas (011). Broke down a few doors while the person was on the phone to a relative in Europe.

[v85 212]

Two that stand out to me when I was dispatching:

1. Caller complained about dogs being walked on a trail (totally legal in the area I was dispatching for). When that was explained to the caller, and the fact the needed to call the council if they wanted a law changed, they went off demanding to talk to the chief, the commissioner, threatening to sue the PD, etc...

2. Subject requesting EMS for transport to the hospital... No medical complaint, requesting to go to a hospital over 30 miles away from where the call was placed, and wanted EMS to pick them up in a resturant parking lot 1/2 mile away from where they called

3. "Happy Helper" calls, I've had two conversations like this, in the middle of snow and ice storms:

Caller: There's a car rolled over on A street and B street

Me: Does that car have fire line tape wrapped around it

Caller: Umm...yes

Me: Okay, we already know about it then

4. What people DON'T call 911 for

Injured deer or dogs in the roadway get about 20 911 calls from everyone with a cell phone. MVA/Pedestrian Struck gets about 1 call. Child appearing to be forced into a vehicle gets 1 call....15 minutes later when the reporting party gets home

5. People who don't understand HOA bylaws aren't enforced by the police.

For example I had one person insisting to me that there were juveniles out in violation of a curfew. I informed them that the jurisdiction doesn't have a curfew, they continued to insist it does, eventually admitting that it was an HOA curfew. They still wanted a police officer to come out

6. People who don't know the law

I could just hear the shock in some of my callers voices when they were informed that the age of consent in the state I dispatch for was 16 not 18, and therefore the sergeant had determined they would not be getting a police officer to their call of catching their 16 year old daughter with her 16 year old boyfriend.

Luckily for us though, where I dispatched for had both online reporting and telephone reporting through the station desk officers. So we didn't have to deal with most of the minor "I was on vacation for two weeks and came home and found my mailbox smashed" calls.

Edited August 20, 2013 by v85

[Officer Ed 59]

We used to have a little old lady who would regularly call 9-1-1 to report that "someone" had turned off the power to her house. She was a repeat customer, so we knew that she liked to plug in space heaters heat lamps, hair dryers, and all the lights in the house. The breaker would trip, and she'd call in a prowler call.

Due to her age and mental state, we'd just roll to her house, reset her breaker, and assure her that we'd keep an eye on the neighborhood and keep the prowler at bay.

Of course, we also have our share of prank 9-1-1 calls, calls made by drunks and druggies, and kids playing with the phone. After their kids had called 9-1-1 and hung up on four different occasions, resulting in four "unknown trouble" dispatches, I had to threaten to arrest the parents if it happened again. Oddly, it stopped.

[Remember585 815]

Back when West Nile Virus became an issue. I took a call from an older female that went like this;

Me: "Fire Department."

Lady: "Hello, there are two birds on my front porch and they won't go away."

Me: "OK mam, this is the fire department, what do you want me to do?"

Lady: "Well I already called the police and they said to call you. These birds have been in front of my door for over a half hour and won't go away. They are very menacing and keep staring at me."

Me: "Unless they're on fire, we really can't do anything. If they're still there in a half hour, call the police and file a harassment complaint."

[EMT74 4]

I heard a job go out to another crew for a response to pick up a person and take them to the ER becasue they had forgotten to get a doc note when they left. I thought the call stood out becasue many folks call thinkin what they have is urgent. THIS guy knew it wasn't urgent.

[Jybehofd 85]

-A woman called for an ambulance in the middle of a bad snow storm for the ambulance crew to make her son do his homework.

[AntMan 16]

1) Lady called for a refund because mcdonalds didnt give her 5 nuggets only 4
2) Little girl called for help with math homework

heard these on youtube

[Westchester 49]

Man calls 911 because he saw a police officer marking tires with chalk ( 4 HOUR PARKING LIMIT ON STREET ), caller stated he didn't wan't his tires marked because he pays taxes which pays the officers salary and he didn't want his tires dirty.

Women call 911 to ask if it was snowing out. ( She lived across the street from headquarters, and was spotted looking out the window at the time)

Family calls 911 multiple times from landline and cell to report a shadow of a perp lurking around the outside of their home and area. Police respond and find out it was there cat walking around casting a shadow from the street lights. Later that evening same family called 911 to tell them they thought is was the full moon casting the shadow and that the cat may be dangerous.MEOW

[JCESU 20]

Little off track but..A very long time ago we were sent to a job taken via Vietnamese/ATT translator. Elderly man states he was at a birthday party and everyone was covered in Nalpam. First thing you think, yeah ok, caller is EDP/IP right? Well we arrived to find people running all over covered in Napalm. Go figure...When it started to rain they placed all of the Sterno's from the food trays, while lit, on one table. Then they picked the table up, over a bunch of kids/women playing on the ground, to bring the food inside. The sterno's slid off the table & voila-everyone covered in Naplam. In his eyes of course that was the best way to describe the event. Even though it sounded like he was just reminiscing...

[SOUSGT 357]

Many years ago, (before E911 and ALS) the police (in a neighboring community) dispatched an ambulance and the FD on a report of possible cyanide poising. The ambulance dispatcher alerted the hospital and was on the phone to poison control and kept an open line to both during the response. Upon arrival People were calmly walking around and could not understand why half the town turned out.

It turns out that Mr. Cynides had a laceration to his mouth and wanted transportation to the ER in case he needed stiches. I pity the dispatcher that had to tell poison control “uh never mind”.

[truckman42 0]

had an EMS call for a person who was hit by a car! She failed to tell the dispatch that it was two days prior and she walked to the rig .

[Officer Ed 59]

"Unless they're on fire, we really can't do anything.

*ROFL*!

[Medic347 1]

When I worked as a dispatcher in MN we had an open "use 911" policy. We didn't care what for. Once a month the civil defense sirens (aka tornado sirens) are tested at 1pm on the first wednesday.

Never failed the minute I would set them off (or someone else) for the test, the lines would light up like a Christmas tree "hey the tornado sirens are going off but it's clear out"

Oh the annoyance that was!

[JCESU 20]

Allot of the mutant disputes were always silly disputes to varying degrees'. Many of them would address you as "Your Honor" as in 'Your Honor these ain't my pants-these are my cousin's pants-I ain't know he had that Glock in them!! ' ( I am watering the conversation down for the outsiders). So these calls took for ever on occasion. Usually b/c you didn't have a ticket book with you for them to put their right hand on. In order to swear them in of course. You always wanted to make sure they were telling the truth under oath. As did they. Even if it was in the middle of junk strewn lot etc. And they had to swear that they would adhere to your direction when you settled the dispute. Like they say--If God made a better job he kept it for him self...

[foreman1923 22]

Mother called 911 wanted her 11 year Old son taken to hospital for psych eval because he wouldn't do his homework

Man called 911 because he thought he took 800mg or Motrin, he took 4 Motrin thought the pill count was the mg

3:300am toothache I always loved

Person called 911 on her 30th floor apartment to report she was hit by a car of course when we got there she couldn't walk

The I need to to this hospital so I can make my doctors appointment

The list continues...........

[v85 212]

Nursing homes calling 911 on the midnight shift for "abnormal labs" (taken 12 hours earlier) and "the doctor just wants to see her in the hospital" calls.

Why?

Because the fire department doesn't bill the nursing homes. Transcare or Lifestar would cost them $600.00 for each send out

[recoiloperated 16]

Nursing homes calling 911 on the midnight shift for "abnormal labs" (taken 12 hours earlier) and "the doctor just wants to see her in the hospital" calls.

Why?

Because the fire department doesn't bill the nursing homes. Transcare or Lifestar would cost them $600.00 for each send out

I got called out from the Mount Vernon base to a nursing home in the Bronx where they informed us that our patient may have had a stroke sometime during the previous shift (it was 01:30). Of course since those nurses had been gone for hours they didn't really know how long he might have been having it or even what his baseline was.

[v85 212]

Even better:

The county I worked 911 for had a county fire department that had a policy that if the first due ambulance was tied up, you had to send the next closest ambulance and a suppression piece out of the first-due as a first responder to stop the clock.

That meant that we were sending 2 pieces of apparautus with 6 people to nursing homes for BLS calls!

Edit:

The nursing home staffs were something else entirely ! I had staff that didn't know the address, staff that were barely intelligible, staff's who needed serious retraining in vital signs taking (you wouldn't believe how many difficulty breathing, SpO2 = 70%, Pulse 130 patients ended up being low priority BLS calls) etc

Edited August 22, 2013 by v85

[Officer Ed 59]

We had numerous calls from incompetent parents wanting an officer dispatched to "make my son behave."

When I've arrived at such calls, I've actually had parents want me to handcuff their kids and throw them in the police car to "scare" them into obeying mom.

I will talk to the kids about how when they reach 18 they can move out and live how they please, but until that time they're required to obey mom. I tell them that mom might be able to declare them incorrigible. But I want kids to KNOW that police officers are here to help them. I refuse to assist parents in making their kids fear the police.

[Remember585 815]

Trach patients with difficulty breathing... still baffles me...

[dc2t 80]

called for ambulance for child with diaper rash

[rfdu39 89]

How about good old rosana calling 60 to complain about her cable bill.

[grumpyff 1,159]

Had an older lady walk into the Transit Manhattan Task Force base to make a complaint that there were no donut carts on the streets, and that the same thing occurred on 9/11. She wanted me to notify the FBI and CIA, to prepare.