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It seems that many people think that 911 is a magic potion that solves all problems or that when you call 911 the respondent is going to be beamed into the house through the telephone receiver. If you call 911 and the police car is parked in your driveway it will take a minute or so for the police in that car to respond to the call. The 911 operator has to get the info and then call the car over the radio. The officers have to get the information from the dispatcher and have to understand it. Then they must get out of the car gather any equipment needed that is not on the belt and get to your door. My 60 feet from the curb. If I called 911 and made a report, I would expect it to take from 1 to 2 minutes from the time I hung up for the police to reach my front door, even if they were parked at the curb 60 feet away.
Of course, chiefs of police and other bureaucrats in charge of public safety foster the misconception as to how long it will take a respondent to get to you after a 911 call. It was just a few weeks ago that there was a post about someone defending himself while waiting for the police and the story contained the obligatory statement that you should not take things into your own hands and should call 911. One of these times there is going to be a judge who lets one of these suits go through simply because the governments - city, county, state, federal - all continue to repeat the mantra of "call 911 and let us handle it." I think that if I were the lawyer for these people I would do research to see if the county has misinformed citizens about what to expect from a 911 call and if they have to refile the suit on the basis of those misrepresentations. It might not get anywhere, but I bet it would scare the tar out of a bunch of people. Especially if the lawyer could get wide exposure for the case.
Of course, chiefs of police and other bureaucrats in charge of public safety foster the misconception as to how long it will take a respondent to get to you after a 911 call. It was just a few weeks ago that there was a post about someone defending himself while waiting for the police and the story contained the obligatory statement that you should not take things into your own hands and should call 911. One of these times there is going to be a judge who lets one of these suits go through simply because the governments - city, county, state, federal - all continue to repeat the mantra of "call 911 and let us handle it." I think that if I were the lawyer for these people I would do research to see if the county has misinformed citizens about what to expect from a 911 call and if they have to refile the suit on the basis of those misrepresentations. It might not get anywhere, but I bet it would scare the tar out of a bunch of people. Especially if the lawyer could get wide exposure for the case.
