"John C. Fowler" <0003513813@mcimail.com> (07/23/90)
The County of Los Alamos (population approximately 20,000) has E911, one 911 operator, and five 911 lines available. My question is, what do 911 services do if there are more calls than operators available? Surely not "Thank you for calling 911. All of our operators are currently busy, but if you will hold, the next available operator will assist you." John C. Fowler, 3513813@mcimail.com [Moderator's Note: They've probably done a traffic analysis which gives them the information needed for staffing so that the problem you describe would be very rare. Additional incoming calls would keep on ringing until someone picked up or the call was abandoned. Here in Chicago, the police dispatchers work in clusters: After the third ring with no answer in a given cluster, the call is re-routed to another cluster nearby. After six rings in total, the call is re-routed to the supervisor's desk. But their staffing levels are based on known traffic patterns; it takes a major incident to cause an overflow like that. PT]
john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) (07/23/90)
"John C. Fowler" <0003513813@mcimail.com> writes: > Surely not "Thank you for calling 911. All of our operators are > currently busy, but if you will hold, the next available operator will > assist you." In the first month of operation, the Santa Clara County E911 did just that. There was a MAJOR stink, particularly fanned by the media, and those in charge of the project were called on the carpet. The initially offered explanation? "Well, a lot of the time there isn't a lot of traffic and we can't just have people sitting around doing nothing most of the time." Needless to say, this didn't fly very well. Ultimately the solution was along the lines of that described by Patrick, with calls being routed to alternate positions. But one interesting problem of 911 surfaced at this time. Sometimes the system is overloaded by multiple calls reporting the same major event. Even though only one call would be sufficient to summon aid for the incident, the PSAP has no instantaneous way of knowing that a cluster of calls are not for separate incidents. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
julian@bongo.uucp (Julian Macassey) (07/23/90)
In article <10007@accuvax.nwu.edu>, 0003513813@mcimail.com (John C. Fowler) writes: > The County of Los Alamos (population approximately 20,000) has E911, > one 911 operator, and five 911 lines available. My question is, what > do 911 services do if there are more calls than operators available? Here in Los Angeles they put you on hold. I know this because I once called in to report a hillside fire. They put me on hold while I watched the fire spread. But here in California they cut back on libraries and emergency services when short of cash so they can keep the Gay and Lesbian services running. This is how the "gummint" lets us know they are short of money and punishes voters for reducing gummint funds. Julian Macassey, n6are julian@bongo.info.com ucla-an!denwa!bongo!julian N6ARE@K6IYK (Packet Radio) n6are.ampr.org [44.16.0.81] voice (213) 653-4495 [Nervous Moderator's Note: This thread is starting to make me fidget. How many special issues will be needed to handle responses? How about a blanket response from me: I am sure not everyone agrees with your assessment of which government-funded services are less important than others. Other readers will probably contact you *personally* (my emphasis!) to discuss this further. PT]
pozar@uunet.uu.net (Tim Pozar) (07/26/90)
In article <10031@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Higdon <john@bovine.ati.com> writes: >But one interesting problem of 911 surfaced at this time. Sometimes >the system is overloaded by multiple calls reporting the same major >event. Even though only one call would be sufficient to summon aid >for the incident, the PSAP has no instantaneous way of knowing that a >cluster of calls are not for separate incidents. Yet, we have seen discussion here that sometimes one call does not summon help. It is only after a number of calls to 911 that any action happens. Tim Pozar Try also... uunet!hoptoad!kumr!pozar Fido: 1:125/555 PaBell: (415) 788-3904 USNail: KKSF-FM / 77 Maiden Lane / San Francisco CA 94108
JDurand@cup.portal.com (07/27/90)
I've reported two auto accidents through 911 using my cellular phone (which is on GTE Mobilnet). The calls were intercepted by "GTE 911" and one call was forwarded to the real 911 after they determined that I was the first person reporting the accident. This seems to be a good way to reduce the load on 911 since I would assume most auto accident reports now come from cellular phones. They also did not ask me who I was, so I guess ANI works all the way to the real 911. Jerry Durand jdurand@cup.portal.com [Moderator's Note: On my way home from downtown tonight, two cars just ahead of my taxicab collided when one tried to change lanes. I used my cell phone to call it in. Our options here are to dial *999 for the Illinois State Police Expressway Patrol, or dial '0' and ask the operator for the Chicago Police Emergency line (911 from a landline phone). I dialed the operator. She knew I was using a cellular unit, by the way she answered me: "Good evening, mobile! How can I help you?" I asked for Chicago Emergency; she put me through. The dispatcher took the information and asked if I had noticed any injuries. I told her it appeared everyone had gotten out of the two vehicles under their own power. Since I happened to also have my Radio Shack PRO-34 scanner with me, I turned it on immediatly. Within thirty seconds, the dispatcher was giving it out: "Half a block north of Addison on the LSD" (Lake Shore Drive) ... " Two car collision, no injuries noted. From a citizen, refused." (I had not been asked, and had not given my name). "Whose going?" (Two or three cars answered). "Alright, now I've got three calls on it, one says there are injuries; Fire is rolling ... they'll meet nineteen and double duece there". Before we had gotten a mile further north, two speeding police cars and an ambulance passed us going south. Generally, Chicago Emergency works quite well. PT]
cramer@uunet.uu.net (Clayton Cramer) (07/28/90)
In article <10144@accuvax.nwu.edu>, hoptoad!kumr!pozar@uunet.uu.net (Tim Pozar) writes: > In article <10031@accuvax.nwu.edu> John Higdon <john@bovine.ati.com> > writes: > >But one interesting problem of 911 surfaced at this time. Sometimes > >the system is overloaded by multiple calls reporting the same major > >event. Even though only one call would be sufficient to summon aid > >for the incident, the PSAP has no instantaneous way of knowing that a > >cluster of calls are not for separate incidents. > Yet, we have seen discussion here that sometimes one call does not > summon help. It is only after a number of calls to 911 that any > action happens. At the same event I previously mentioned, where the 911 dispatching supervisor explained why they ask for the information, one member of the audience told of her roommate being beaten in the parking lot, and chased in doors by three young women, one of them armed with a gun. She called 911 to report what had happened, and that they were at the door, trying to get in. Eleven minutes later, she called 911 again. THIS time, they decided it was serious enough to send a police officer. Not surprisingly, this young woman's perception of 911 dispatching wasn't very high. Note that the city in question is Rohnert Park, where rapes are front page news, and years go by without a murder. I can't imagine why the dispatcher didn't consider an armed attacker at the door to be a serious enough problem to send an officer on the first report. Clayton E. Cramer {pyramid,pixar,tekbspa}!optilink!cramer Disclaimer? You must be kidding! No company would hold opinions like mine!
onymouse@ames.arc.nasa.gov (John Debert) (07/29/90)
From article <10007@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by 0003513813@mcimail.com (John C. Fowler): > The County of Los Alamos (population approximately 20,000) has E911, > one 911 operator, and five 911 lines available. My question is, what > do 911 services do if there are more calls than operators available? > Surely not "Thank you for calling 911. All of our operators are > currently busy, but if you will hold, the next available operator will > assist you." Believe it or not, yes, that is exactly what happens - at least in some places. I made a 911 call in the Motnerey Bay Area last Sunday and after three rings got the recording saying "All 911 operators are busy on other calls, please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order received." In San Jose, the very same thing happened more than once in the past year. In San Jose, at least, it seems that there are just barely enough people working the 911 board and if more than one is absent at one time, there are delays. I heard a radio dispatcher say this week on the air that the 911 staff was so small that dispatchers had to take 911 calls themselves. (Dispatchers do not take calls but dispatch full time.) (Does anyone know if it's true that Pa Bell provides the 911 staff?) jd onymouse@netcom.UUCP
droid@uunet.uu.net> (07/30/90)
claris!netcom!onymouse@ames.arc.nasa.gov (John Debert) writes: >(Does anyone know if it's true that Pa Bell provides the 911 staff?) 911 Operators are provided by the local 911 agency. In some counties this is a common answer point for all emergency services in the county. In other counties it is the various cities that answer. This question of who answers has caused many delays in the implementation of the 911 and E911 systems while the various agencies argue it out. Marty the Droid Industrial Magician
onymouse%.UUCP@ames.arc.nasa.gov> (08/05/90)
From article <10210@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by apple!well.sf.ca.us! well!droid@uunet.uu.net (Marty Brenneis): > claris!netcom!onymouse@ames.arc.nasa.gov (John Debert) writes: > 911 Operators are provided by the local 911 agency. In some counties > this is a common answer point for all emergency services in the > county. In other counties it is the various cities that answer. Perhaps this explains why 911 operators can get away with being rude, abusive and even openly hostile to callers. jd onymouse@netcom.UUCP
"Marc T. Kaufman" <kaufman@neon.stanford.edu> (08/07/90)
In article <10455@accuvax.nwu.edu> claris!onymouse%.UUCP@ ames.arc.nasa.gov (John Debert) writes: > From article <10210@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by apple!well.sf.ca.us! >well!droid@uunet.uu.net (Marty Brenneis): -> 911 Operators are provided by the local 911 agency. In some counties -> this is a common answer point for all emergency services in the -> county. In other counties it is the various cities that answer. >Perhaps this explains why 911 operators can get away with being rude, >abusive and even openly hostile to callers. The 911 operator has a specific mission: To get the information needed to properly dispatch aid, as quickly as possible. This means the operator MUST be in control of the conversation. A recent TV newscast propogated a complaint from a citizen that she was mistreated and insulted by the 911 operator. But they played the tape, and it seemed to me that the 911 operator was just being insistant, trying to get the information from a hysterical woman. (she had been shot by her brother, and 911 wanted to know whether the brother was black, white or mexican. Civil rights groups were offended, but if you were a cop, wouldn't you want to know who to look for)? Marc Kaufman (kaufman@Neon.stanford.edu)