How often do you call 911 or similar emergency number?

[Babbylonian]

I think the poll lacks precision in the "Less than once a year" category. I've never called 911, and it seems that many other posters are in the zero to once in their lives range.

The level of precision is as intended. Witnessing crime and tragedy should be rare for most of us, and the interesting thing is learning about why people are compelled to call emergency services more often than most.

 

[crescent]

1: In College roughly 20 years ago, by accident (dial "9" to get an outside line, "1" for long distance, but the phone malfunctioned and dialed "1" twice). Campus police showed up a few minute later to complain about the crappy phones the university supplied the dorm rooms with.

2: About six years ago: My wife was very ill. No police but an ambulance and fire truck.

3: About five years ago: Fistfight in the driveway of the house a few doors down from mine. One left before the police arrived. The other (the father of one of my son's friends) soon after moved to "Maryland", which has since become a euphemism in our house for "prison".

4: About five years ago: Witness some youngish adult looking people throw a rock through the window of a church (not my religion, but I called anyway). I was too far away to see anything useful, but the Bishop was happy to be informed so he could tape it over before it got any weather damage.

5: About four years ago; to report a wildfire. ("This is 911, are you calling about the fire?")

6: About three years ago: Found a pair of rifles laying in the middle of the road. Before the sheriff's deputy could arrive, the owners returned, having already gotten home and noticed that the rifle case was no longer on the ATV trailer. They could not decide whether to act sheepish about losing the rifles, or angry at me for calling the police, who they did not wait for.

7: Two years ago: wife was very ill again. Norovirus, nasty stuff.

8: A few months ago: People riding motorcycles on the bike paths and grass of the local park, tearing up the grass with spins and uphill runs. I felt kind of bad about that one, like I am some sort of old curmudgeon, but I don't like to see my neighborhood park torn up. The riders left soon after, and I never did see the police show up (although they had been in the park the previous day for the same issue).

ETA: I just remembered one from about 25 years ago. My girlfriend heard something outside and my dog went crazy. She thought she was being stalked by her ex. She might have been, I don't know. Police came, looked around, didn't find anything.

 

[Pope130]

I've called 911 three times, and directed others to do so twice. The calls I made were all for traffic accidents, two I witnessed, and one I was in. The two times I directed others to call were for a fight going on just outside the shop where I worked, the other for a violent emotionally disturbed person in the shop.

I've used the non-emergency number twice to report suspicious behavior.

 

[Upchurch]

Yes and no. I call 911 quite a bit, but not for emergency services. I know that sounds like I'm an ***hole by tying up the line for non-emergencies, but hear me out.

In my area, 911 and the non-emergency number go to the same dispatch. I know this because I called the non-emergency number and they answered "911, what is the nature of your emergency" (or something similar). Once I stopped apologizing for calling the wrong number, which I didn't, they explained that it really doesn't matter and it's fine if I just use 911. I'm going to be tying up the line either way and it's one less number to memorize.


(To complete the story, I live next to two vacant and dilapidated houses that are often the site of various forms of ...transactions. I'm calling them in, as instructed by both my neighborhood association and alderman, in order to get them designated as nuisance properties so that the city has more options for dealing with them.)

 

[Elagabalus]

When I was a teenager working at a Doughnut shop, I called 911 when a person reached around the display and stole a doughnut and ran. By the time 911 operator stopped laughing, I understood there is a minimum threshold of importance the situation failed to reach.

Fortunately, my boss never asked about the missing doughnut(s), if they were even noticed. This was when my life of crime began and I stopped confining my doughnut consumption to the day old tray.

Hmmmmm. Why weren't representatives of the local Constabulary already present on site to deal with this menace? Were your Doughnuts substandard?

 

[Loss Leader]

I've also found that at some point, your preschooler will call 911. Then you have to apologize and hope they don't come. In my experience, every child is allowed one such call.

 

[Metullus]

Sorry, TM, not I'm not getting that one!

Well, handy if you were driving your car from the roof...

 

[The Greater Fool]

Hmmmmm. Why weren't representatives of the local Constabulary already present on site to deal with this menace? Were your Doughnuts substandard?

I was on the afternoon shift. Our police preferred fresh, so they started appearing when the donuts did, at 4am.

 

[Trebuchet]

Well, handy if you were driving your car from the roof...

Ouch!

 

[Rolfe]

I only remember calling it once, when I came home from work to find my mother lying on the kitchen floor, having fallen and banged her head, which was bleeding. When I tried to help her sit up she complained of a pain in her neck. I judged there was a possibility of a broken neck so I put her back down with her spine straight and called 999. The ambulance got here in about 20 minutes and an x-ray and CT scan at the hospital did indeed reveal a fracture.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I remembered another one. I called when gasoline was running down the street. Fire came, followed the spill. Turned out the garbage truck with a side gas tank punctured it and didn't know it. The spill literally went up and back zigzagging for several blocks before the fire truck caught up with them.

 

[Loss Leader]

When I was in grad school, I hit a deer while driving. It was lying in the road but it was still alive. I called 911 and said, "I don't know if you guys do this, but there's a deer on the road." She asked if I wanted to report an accident and, even though I destroyed the front left corner of my car, I told her no. Back then, they couldn't pinpoint your address from a phone call ... or at least, that's what I hoped.

 

[Mumbles]

Twice. Once as a kid, when the dude across the street was beating the mess out of his wife on the sidewalk. Cops never came, though.

Once, medical emergency, here in MD. Ambulance showed up quick for that one. I've since learned the number for the fire department, in case I see someone going through a mental illness episode - best not to get police involved for anything like that, they're far too likely to escalate and kill someone in that situation.

 

[pgwenthold]

I've also found that at some point, your preschooler will call 911. Then you have to apologize and hope they don't come. In my experience, every child is allowed one such call.

My 4 yo niece called 911 because there was a bee outside

 

[quadraginta]

My 4 yo niece called 911 because there was a bee outside

That's one way to keep her (and them) busy.

No shortage of bees.

Kidding aside, the little girl had the fundamentals right. She just wasn't up to speed on the piddling details like urgency and degree of threat.

At four years old that's not too shabby. Compared to adults who call because they got the wrong condiments on their sandwich she might rank in the 'prodigy' range.

 

[Bikewer]

As a police officer, I never hesitate to report things that I see happening when I’m off-duty.
I’ve called in traffic accidents, hazardous conditions, fights/disturbances, etc, etc.

 

[pgwenthold]

That's one way to keep her (and them) busy.

No shortage of bees.

Kidding aside, the little girl had the fundamentals right. She just wasn't up to speed on the piddling details like urgency and degree of threat.

At four years old that's not too shabby. Compared to adults who call because they got the wrong condiments on their sandwich she might rank in the 'prodigy' range.

I used to razz her because she called 911 because there was a bee _in the house!_

She corrected me to let me know that said bee was outside.

 

[Dave Rogers]

Less than once a year. I'm a first aider, so if there's anyone taken ill at work, it's likely that I'll be the one to make the call, but in fact I've only had to do that once. Outside work, once saw a teenager come off his pushbike in the street and was rather woozy so I called a paramedic. Two calls for my own sake; one time I had some weird stuff going on with my heartbeat, and another time I fell over on Dartmoor and had my foot flapping around loosely on the end of my leg which apparently gets you a free helicopter ride. Never had to call in a fire. A police call once about a woman bleeding in the street whose boyfriend said she'd fallen over, something she apparently does a lot, which the police invited him to stay the night and explain in more detail. I think that's all the calls I've ever made or even been involved in.

Dave

 

[Foolmewunz]

Twice.

Help me. I've fallen and I can't get up type. Broke my arm on black ice in Jersey City.

The other time I didn't call them but spoke to them because we had a spiffy new phone with hands free and our tabby cat, Tabby, called them just walking on buttons. I walked by and heard a woman's voice on the speaker and asked who was calling only to be yelled at by the operator because she'd already called in the squad car thinking someone was lying injured. The cops weren't thrilled, not so much by the accidental call, but because we were on the top floor of a five story walk-up. Luckily, they didn't ticket us.

 

[quadraginta]

<snip>

I think that's all the calls I've ever made or even been involved in.

Dave

"Involved in" widens the scope quite a bit.

Four decades in heavy construction provides a lot of opportunities to be involved in something that necessitates a 911 call, from injuries to equipment failures (e.g., a crane collapsing in the middle of the street) to accidents to hazmat events. Generally my involvement would be at the scene trying to deal with the problem, while someone else called 911. Many of those were in pre-cellphone days, and the call had to be made from the office trailer.

Oddly enough, the most significant construction incident I was involved in where I was actually a victim (out of work for six months) there was no 911 call at all. I drove myself to the emergency room. With a knee that had basically been dismantled on the inside. But that's another story. Bad old days of construction.