can 911 put you on hold?

[JacoLesFlea]

I am watching Runaway Jury with Hoffman and Hackman and plenty other big names and in the 1st 10 minutes of the film a lunatic starts shooting up an office building....this woman calls 911 while shooter is doing his thing...obviously the 911 operator can hear the comotion...then puts the caller on hold.. Please tell me this is a hollywood thing and does not happen in real life.

[gold_member_321]

My brother inlaw works in dispatch (here that includes the 911 calls) and he said that there isn't even a hold option even if you wanted to put someone on hold. Besides, his job is to keep them ON the phone and calm.

[cheesemonkey]

Originally Posted by JacoLesFlea

I am watching Runaway Jury with Hoffman and Hackman and plenty other big names and in the 1st 10 minutes of the film a lunatic starts shooting up an office building....this woman calls 911 while shooter is doing his thing...obviously the 911 operator can hear the comotion...then puts the caller on hold.. Please tell me this is a hollywood thing and does not happen in real life.

one can only hope...

[Deacon_Blues]

There has been some severe problems here with the emergency line. I've read in the news about people that have had to wait for several minutes before anyone picked up the phone because the lines were too busy. In once case it was a wife calling for help when her husband go a heart attach. I don't remember if he survived or not though, but there has been deaths that could have been avoided if 112 had worked like it should.

I fail to see how a modern western country can allow that to happen...

[Phat Ham]

I don't know about people being put on hold after someone picks up, but here in DC I've heard of people having to wait a few minutes to talk to anyone.

I called 911 last year to report a fire. It was an automated response asking me what kind of emergency it was. After I said "fire" someone picked up immediately.

[Webtroll]

People having to hold because the lines were busy? Don't they uderstand that they messed up my sandwich??

[Relic]

I had to call 911 only one time in my life, thank god and had a rather crappy experience.

I had called from my cell phone (which can be a problem I guess?), the operator had actually gotten snotty with me because I apparently connected to the emergency response of a neighboring town.
"Are you aware that this is Xyz-town, sir??"
Me: " no I'm not aware of that, I'm simply aware that I have an emergency, I have a cell phone, and I have dialed 911, now please may I have assistance"
The guy then tells me very nasty-like, "I'll have to put you through to your own town"
I then have to wait until I connect to a different dispatcher and explain everything all over again, which all in all was not that big a deal, but the guy's bad attitude REALLY irked me big time.
My one and only exp with 911 sucked, I only hope that this sort of thing is extremely atypical...

[playinpearls]

i've called and had a message that operators were busy with other callers...

i was on "hold" for about 45 seconds

[RWP]

"Suicide hot line, please hold."

[Joe Gress]

Name that movie:

"Thank you for calling 911, your call is important to us, a service representative will be on the line shortly."

[James Hart]

I work for a phone company and take calls from our e911 clearing house (place 911 calls go if the system doesn't know where they go... there are a couple places in the USA and Canada that do this service) when they get numbers without addresses and such.

I can say with complete confidence, YES a 911 operator can put you on hold. It repeats "This is 911, do not hang up" over and over again.

[Sig Saucer]

I prefer a 1911 or better yet my Sig Sauer P226 over 911 anyday.

A piece of lead flying at 800mph for a few yards is sure better than the police moving at 80 mph for a few miles. Of course, this only applies to situations where there is a threatening individual.

[cheezewiz]

911 congestion is almost ALWAYS caused by morons.... and there are a TON of them. People call 911 for a barking dog complaint. People call 911 because the neighbor is playing his music loudly. People call 911 because one kid drove by and flipped their kid the bird. People call 911 to get directions.

[peaveyuser]

Originally Posted by cheezewiz

911 congestion is almost ALWAYS caused by morons.... and there are a TON of them. People call 911 for a barking dog complaint. People call 911 because the neighbor is playing his music loudly. People call 911 because one kid drove by and flipped their kid the bird. People call 911 to get directions.

idiots, do these people realise that the police station has a normal phone number too

[bradjonesbass]

yes, but that requires dialing 7 numbers... stupid is as stupid does

[IanStephenson]

Originally Posted by peaveyuser

idiots, do these people realise that the police station has a normal phone number too

I think they REALISE but don't know what it is. I remember calling the police on a non-emergency issue, and spend some time figuring out the number. On the other hand my 2 year old daughter did manage to call them when she was playing with my phone!

I remember reading a recent news article that in one area the police ran an intense "this is our OTHER number" campaign, and reduced bogus emergency calls dramatically.

[brothernewt]

I answer 911 calls, and I have a hold button. It doesn't get used much on actual 911 calls, but it's there (once in a while to check with supervisors on response issues). Some of the neighboring dispatch centers are set up so that the operator simultaneously dispatches officers... I would guess that they sometimes put a caller on hold to get units started or address officer safety issues (not as sinister as it may sound if you put it in that context).

and cheezewiz almost nailed the congestion issue... add to that, in the event of a psycho office shooting spree (or any other big thing visible to a large number of people) that everyone with a phone and a pulse is calling too. We have a finite number of folks to answer those calls, and when 300 people dial at once, some just don't get through...

[GeneralElectric]

I was always told if I see something happening (like some guy unloading with an AK47 in a shopping mall) not to bother calling 911 since everyone else would be doing so. Best just to get you and yours out of harms way if possible.