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What Happens When I Call 911?

Excellent article Mike, as you mentioned there are no training courses on how to call 911 that I’m aware of however I do know that in some larger municipalities there are pamphlets that can be found at town halls and some civic centers that are made to hang/keep near a phone that explains what to do, what to say, and some include info, general guidelines to help in medical emergencies.
 
Just like help-center emails - clear, concise, to the point, no extra fluff. Think back to old journalism classes, "the 5 W's":

Who
What
Where
When
(not so much "why" for a 911 call, except maybe in the case where you shot an intruder...because they broke into your home).

Keep it clear, don't ramble, and give the information that responders will need in order to prepare for what they'll find. (i.e. if you shot an intruder, tell them "I'm the good guy, I look like this and I'm wearing that").
 
Besides the above, if you're in a blue state you'll get referred to a community organizer and/or a counselor. And their ETA will be undetermined.
 
I don't want to come off as a know it all or anything, not my intention, but I was a 911 police/fire dispatcher for almost ten years. If anyone has a question about calling into 911, I'd be more than willing to give some feedback. I was a 911 dispatcher trainer for the last five years I was a dispatcher so I got to do a lot of community outreach as far as what we heard in the call center versus what was going on at the actual scene. Dispatched in a city of about 85-100k people depending on if college was in session. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.
 
One issue i have with this and i hope Richard sees this and can help out with is, roughly a year ago just over actually. I had an incident happening at my house where if the aggressor found out i or someone else was calling the police someone would've or could've ended up dead. I called 911 put the phone down to my side and had the mic facing the ongoing loud altercation going on. This lasted 30 minutes death threats were even made. Once everything calmed down my phone started ringing (thank god the aggressor went outside). It was dispatch calling me back asking if i needed help. I hastily replied "you haven't sent the police here yet????????? He made threats to kill one of us and started to act on it!!!!!!!!!" what apparently happened was they heard the commotion in the background recorded the call for 10 minutes and scheduled a follow up call for every 30 minutes post incident. in a situation like that i wish the response would be different.
 
KLGunner said:
One issue i have with this and i hope Richard sees this and can help out with is, roughly a year ago just over actually. I had an incident happening at my house where if the aggressor found out i or someone else was calling the police someone would've or could've ended up dead. I called 911 put the phone down to my side and had the mic facing the ongoing loud altercation going on. This lasted 30 minutes death threats were even made. Once everything calmed down my phone started ringing (thank god the aggressor went outside). It was dispatch calling me back asking if i needed help. I hastily replied "you haven't sent the police here yet????????? He made threats to kill one of us and started to act on it!!!!!!!!!" what apparently happened was they heard the commotion in the background recorded the call for 10 minutes and scheduled a follow up call for every 30 minutes post incident. in a situation like that i wish the response would be different.
Click to expand...

Good point on keeping the phone "on" so 911/LEOs can monitor/record the situation untill help arrives.

Plus, it helps cover your butt if you have to do anything to defend your self when it comes to he said this/you said that.
 
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