We Can Learn A Lot From Our Elders

An elderly lady called in and said, "I have a noise complaint. The people next door are yelling up a storm. Can you hear them in the background? Here, I'll put the phone out the window." A much given response of, "That won't be necessary---" was halted mid-sentence because for once the noise was so loud, when the RP held the phone up, you could hear what she was complaining about. (99 times out of 100 the rp wants the dispatcher to experience the noise, and 99 time out of 100 I say, "No, no, don't hang the phone out the window, it doesn't matter if I can hear it or not, it is your peace being disturbed not mine." Besides, we usually can't hear the barking dog/party call/neighbors running around in the upstairs apartment, they are calling about.) This time was an exception. In what was almost THX clear audio, was a couple who were obviously in the throes of er, passion. The elderly lady then brought the phone back and said, "I mean honestly, no one is that good." I couldn't help it, without hitting the mute button, I laughed so hard! "I mean, am I right? Or what?" She said, also laughing. It was awesome.

Not just "Same Old, Same Old" after all

I had this caller who said she was hiding in her closet, and that someone had broken into her home. Her alarm had gone off and she was sure someone was coming up her stairs. How many alarm calls turn out to be false alarms, or alarms tripped by the dog/cat/husband/friend/maid/janitor/wind? I would say 85% of them. So I handled the call as a valid hot call, if for no other reason, than the poor woman was terrified. "I can hear him in the hallway.... I have just locked myself in the bathroom... Now he is in my bedroom, please hurry!" I tell her I have units on the way and to please stay on the line. "I can hear him by the dresser. He is counting my money!" What does that sound like? I thought to myself, imagining the sound of paper bills rustling and a suspect counting, "One dollar, two dollars, three dollars...." At this point I really thought she was 5150. I told her units were onscene, to stay put while we did a perimeter check. All of the sudden she begins screaming, "He's trying to come into the bathroom! He's trying to come in! He is in the bathroom!!" And in her defense I did hear a lot of background noise. My officers broke in the door to the house ran up the stairs and promptly went code 4. I knew it! I said to myself. It is all quiet on the air, for at least 5 minutes. All of the sudden my K9 unit comes up on the air, yelling, "Nora 8, I am in the garage with the suspect and I am not Code 4! I REPEAT I AM NOT CODE 4!" Holy crap! I thought, throwing the magazine I had recently picked back up, practically across the room. All the onscene units met Nora 8 in the garage and there his dog is snarling and sitting on the suspect who not only was very real, but armed with a wicked looking knife. Scared the crap out of the poor K9 handler, who must have been thinking just like I did, that it was once again, not a valid alarm call. Long story short, a routine call got very exciting, very fast. It made me a much better dispatcher, in that I learned to take even far-fetched sounding calls seriously, just in case. Later I spoke with Nora 8 and he said he is positive, if we had not gotten there when we did, the RP would have been raped, murdered or both. He said, the suspect was, "One of the biggest, scariest looking dudes" he had ever seen. Creepy.

It is Time for the "Dye Pack" Story

Shortly after Chris got out of the Marine Corps, he was a roadside mechanic and I began my love affair with dispatching at Huge PD. Back then, I would come home and regale Chris with fascinating stories from my day. Back then, they were all exciting and unique to both him and me. Don't get me wrong, he still loves to hear about my day and my stories, but now he is a bit more seasoned. A bit jaded if you will. 9 times out of 10 his stories top mine all to heck. My stories no longer shock, appal or amaze him. But, back then, I would write down notes, all day long, reminding myself of calls I wanted to share with him. I would drive home, excited to tell him about my day. It was all so new and interesting for both of us. So here is an actual transcript of a conversation that took place in the 5150 household about 5 years ago. Completely accurate....(to the best of my memory):

Me: You would not believe what happened today!

Chris: What? [He has always been a man of few words.]

Me: You know that guy on the news? The Pale Face Bandit?

Chris: Ummm...

Me: You know! That guy who wears white stage make up, a brown wig and has been going around robbing all the banks in Huge City?

Chris: [A bit distracted] Oh, yeah that sounds familiar.

Me: Well, today he robbed the Huge PD bank, and this time, the teller put a dye pack in the money bag.

Chris: Oh yeah? How'd that work out?

Me: [Getting excited, trying to draw him in to my story] Well, he stole the money, drove off in a blue car, and then the dye pack went off. The dye went everywhere!

Chris: [Finally I have his full attention] Wow.

Me: Yeah, some witnesses saw everything. That dye pack? Well, it just exploded! All that blue ink went off all over his clothes and hands!

Chris: [Catching my excitement] No way, really?

Me: And his face! It exploded in his face!

Chris: Whoa, that is nuts!

Me: No, wait, wait, I got carried away, I don't know why I just said that. Let me start over. He got away, and then they caught him, because a dye pack exploded and got on his hands and clothes. Not his face, I am sorry I totally made that part up.

Chris: Wait. You made that part up?

Me: Yeah, I was just telling you what happened and I was imagining it all, and in my head I was seeing the dye pack explode in his face, but that part I made up. Sorry.

Chris: [Laughing] You just totally lied.

Me: No I didn't, it was an embellishment. To make the story more exciting. Besides, maybe it did go off in his face, I don't know...

Chris: You lied. You made something up. Period. Besides the story was exciting enough without making stuff up.

Me: Whatever. Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe....

Chris: Liar.... Anything else you want to fess up to, about adding to the story?

Me: No.....Oh, well, I said the ink was blue, but I don't really know. I guess it could have been red or green... And I'm not sure what color the gettaway car was...heck he could have been on foot, or.....Wait...Where are you going?

Chris: [Walking away] Come talk to me when you are ready to tell the truth.

*****

And so, to this day Chris and my close friends, whom I have shared this story with ALWAYS ask me, "Is that a "dye pack" or did it really happen that way???" When I share an outrageous story. Sigh. That's what I get for trying to be an master story teller.

Not Too Bright

A man just had his 4 year old call 911 so that he could "teach [his] son the appropriate usage of 911." ....By inappropriately using 911... Brilliant.

SWAT (Sit, Wait, and Talk)

Oldie but goodie from HPD: If you are going to call out a full SWAT assignment and yell out commands for hours and hours on your mega-phone-thingy to an armed and dangerous suspect, holed up inside his home.......MAKE SURE HE IS ACTUALLY THERE!!!!! 16 hour stand off ended when they raided the house, only to find it empty. The suspect didn't slip out un-noticed; he was never there! Whoops.

Malfunction, Malfunction, Malfunction

True story from when I was at Huge PD: Imagine a massive SWAT call out, with a dangerous felon barricading himself inside a small house, reportedly armed to the teeth. Wisely the decision was made to send in the new ultra high tech, majorly expensive robot. The plan was, that one of the specially trained SWAT members would remotely control the robot into the house, and over a radio built into the robot, the suspect would be given instructions to place the weapons onto a tray-like recepticale attached to the front of the robot, thus safely diffusing the situation. Unfortunately the plan was foiled, when after being deployed into the house, the ultra high tech, majorly expensive robot got tangled up in the suspect's drapes.