Guest guest Posted September 16, 2000 Report Share Posted September 16, 2000 Our policy directs us to say " 911 sheriff fire or ambulance, which do you need? " They don't understand it when you say it, especially when you say it fast or if you have a heavy accent. Besides, it takes too long to say and there's too much listening effort required of the caller. They're freaking out anyway, why complicate things by making them work harder than necessary. This is the only policy I have ever deliberately broken. I say " 911 what is your emergency? " We have one person that just says " 911 Emergency " and she seems to have the least trouble with callers understanding her. I have been lobbying for " Brevard County 911 " because we get sooooooo many cell phone calls that should go to other counties. Michele Hriciso Brevard County Sheriff's Office, FL www.thecluster.com E911Tigger@... AOL or MSN IM - E911Tigger ----- Original Message ----- From: Kirk Fitzgerald Our county just changed out policy on how to answer the 911 lines. Directive before today stated " Henrico 911 what is your emergency? " ..... Now, " Henrico 911 where is your emergency? " .... Any other jurisdictions ask where 1st, if so do you find it helpful or harder than asking the citizen " what " first? And any tips making it work to be beneficial? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 16, 2000 Report Share Posted September 16, 2000 In a message dated 9/16/2000 8:22:09 PM Eastern Daylight Time, kirkfitz@... writes: << Any other jurisdictions ask where 1st, if so do you find it helpful or harder than asking the citizen " what " first? >> All we say is " Gwinnett 9-1-1 " .... nothing else. we want to let the person start talking. Alot of folks dont hear what you say anyway and then will say " is this Gwinnett police? " or something like that. Several of the jurisdictions around us answer something like this " You have reached 'whatever county 9-1-1 what is the exact location of your emergency? " . I just personally feel that that is too much to offer and we should be brief when we answer to allow the caller to start talking. Toni Wyman, (CTO)...Gwinnett County Police, GA (just N of HotLanta) 770 Hi Hope Rd, Lawrenceville, GA 30046 (These are only my opinions, not my agency's, after all they are the government and they have opinions of their own) For liability reasons my posts and opinions are to be reprinted with my permission only. ALSO any solicitation of business with my agency should come through me if you have my name from this list. NO outside solicitors may contact anyone other than myself. Email to: E911GAL136@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 17, 2000 Report Share Posted September 17, 2000 << Now, " Henrico 911 where is your emergency? " ....>> Here it used to be.. me: 911, police, fire or medical aid? caller: this is mrs floyd r smyth III and my address is... me: ma'am, do you need the police or fire department? caller: well, my husband doesn't feel well and his heart me: stay on the line for the fire dept..(transfer to fire) Currently it is.. me: 911 WHAT is your emergency? caller: see above me: ma'am, do you need the police or fire department? caller: see above ...and on and on and on.... In the future it will be... me: 911, would you like spumoni ice cream on your spam sandwich? caller: this is mrs floyd r smyth III and my address is...... I think " 911 " is all anyone hears if they even hear that.... Bob in Tacoma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 17, 2000 Report Share Posted September 17, 2000 Michele, That is how I answer it, but I think with all the cell phone traffic, we are going to have to answer with " Bellefontaine 9-1-1, what is your emergency? " A lot of our calls come from out in the county, and S.O. gets a lot of ours. If the cell phone situation gets any worse, I guess maybe we should start answering with " 9-1-1, WHERE is your emergency " Lyn magik@... Re: 911:: 911 " greeting " > > This is the only policy I have ever deliberately broken. I say " 911 what is your emergency? " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 17, 2000 Report Share Posted September 17, 2000 " 911, what is your emergency? " is our standard. When the line comes in (forced answering here) sometimes, the first thing you hear is screaming, yelling etc.... Then, sometimes, yelling 911 is even redundant...they know where they have called. The sifting of the emergency begins on those types of calls. Now, on our sheriffs lines, We are supposed to say... " sheriffs emergency line... " I am the only on our shift who does this. This has it's good and bad points...such as... " ohhhh...I dont have an emergency...should I call another line?etc... " that leads to eyerollage and sighs on my part...which is not the callers fault. I am just following rules...sometimes though, I dont think it matters, since most people dont care ..they just start their conversation. Due to some ineptness on 411, the information line, we get calls that should of never come to us in the first place. The ...ahemmm...operator, hears a county or agency...and automatically gives us a call that should of gone to Michigan to us here in Ohio. Sigh...major sigh. That creates more work on our part...(does anyone else have that problem)...I usually know when this occurs when someone says that they are on (just state any interstate or road that you have never heard of in your life)...and then you begin your job of trying to figure out where the hell this person is...(is usually some poor traveler who thought that good ole ma bell would never steer them wrong) If " what county are you in? " doesnt work...then I take a jab at " what STATE are you in " confusion comes to mind..but that is another topic. Anyways...I think...hehheehe...just a few musings from me Cin in good ole Ohio happy day, be safe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 17, 2000 Report Share Posted September 17, 2000 We have tried many different greetings.The one presently in the procedure book is, " 911 what is your emergency " I feel it is better to answer with " 911,do you have a police,fire or medical emergency " ? I find that this gets them to the point quicker.If they then say " well it's not a real emergency " .I ask if the situation is life threatening.With these two quick questions,I can usually weed out the non-emergencies and give them the regular call number. Rick Delray Beach FD _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 17, 2000 Report Share Posted September 17, 2000 We use " 911 Where is your emergency? " Real good lead in Mike Groover Dispatcher Chester County Emergency Services West Chester, PA CCDES453@... (home) Mgroover@... (work) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 17, 2000 Report Share Posted September 17, 2000 we use " 911 what is your emergency? " no matter what you say. People just don't listen to you when you answer the phone. I dispatch for Peoria Heights and Peoria city is All around my village. People never listen we answer the phone. --- " Cournoyer, Bob (LESA Com) " wrote: > << Now, " Henrico 911 where is your > emergency? " ....>> > > Here it used to be.. > me: 911, police, fire or medical aid? > caller: this is mrs floyd r smyth III and my > address is... > me: ma'am, do you need the police or fire > department? > caller: well, my husband doesn't feel well and > his heart > me: stay on the line for the fire > dept..(transfer to fire) > > Currently it is.. > me: 911 WHAT is your emergency? > caller: see above > me: ma'am, do you need the police or fire > department? > caller: see above > ...and on and on and on.... > > In the future it will be... > me: 911, would you like spumoni ice cream on > your spam sandwich? > caller: this is mrs floyd r smyth III and my > address is...... > > I think " 911 " is all anyone hears if they even hear > that.... > > Bob in Tacoma > > > > __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 18, 2000 Report Share Posted September 18, 2000 I have found that people don't listen to how you answer the phone no matter if they call 9-1-1 or a non-emergency line. We just answer with " University Police " . My part time agency answers with " College Station 911 " . The district answers with " Brazos County 911 " . All of us will sometimes add " what " or " where is your emergency? " . I don't believe that it should be up to the caller to identify what type of response they need. The caller just needs to tell the calltaker what and where the emergency is, then let the calltaker send the necessary response. It's only when there is a language barrier that identifying the response units might be necessary :-) In my very humble opinion, the shorter the greeting the better...Identify the agency, then get on with the business at hand. Anything else is a waste of time... thanks, annette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 18, 2000 Report Share Posted September 18, 2000 Kirk we've found it easier to ask what first. The caller is usually so agitated over what is happenning that all they can think of is getting that off of their chest. Usually once they have gotten that out of the way they are a little more calm to start telling us where they are, providing they KNOW where they are. I'm assuming that's Henrico County, VA? Capt Runnett from Division of Fire is one our regular visitors up here in Wahoo land. Take care and keep in touch. Charlottesville, VA Fire Dept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 18, 2000 Report Share Posted September 18, 2000 911:: 911 " greeting " > Now, " Henrico 911 where is your emergency? " .... > > Any other jurisdictions ask where 1st, if so do you > find it helpful or harder than asking the citizen > " what " first? And any tips making it work to be > beneficial? Our agency answers with " 911, where's your emergency? " . It's much more efficient because that's the first thing we are given right away. Our next question is " what's the problem? " . If the caller starts getting longwinded, or the problem escalates while you're on the phone with them, at least you have the address right up front. And 99% of the time, when asking that question first, the caller will give it to you and then wait for the next question. It's difficult sometimes to drag the address out of the caller if they start giving the story first because they want to keep talking about the problem and don't want to bother with the little detail of an address. Sometimes when we answer the phone, the person may already be screaming, and we don't get a chance to even give our opening line.....we just go into " what's your address? " . We are not fully enhanced yet, but even when we are it's still important to get that address and verify it with our ALI screen. I prefer asking the location first because there are few chances of error on the dispatchers part. When getting the problem first, the story can drag on, or the person on the line will start upsetting themselves and it's a little harder to get the address at that point. Also....if the story itself starts to raise the adrenaline level of the dispatcher, that's when the chance for error can occur because the dispatcher is trying to enter the address quickly while thinking about what's going on. My 2 cents worth. Wyatt, Supervisor Walla Walla (WA) Public Safety Communications http://www.ci.walla-walla.wa.us/ home email: dwyatt@... work email: swyatt@... ***opinions expressed are my own, and do not represent those of my department*** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 18, 2000 Report Share Posted September 18, 2000 Due to EMD requirements, we started answering the phones back in May with " Lehigh County 9-1-1, What is the EXACT location of your emergency? " Seems to be working just fine. LaurieB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 18, 2000 Report Share Posted September 18, 2000 We started answering our lines the same way because of EMD about a year ago. With the occasional " is this the Police " , it seems to work well. > L. W. " Chip " Yarborough II > Emergency Communications > City of Mountain View Fire Department > 650/903-6824 Office > 650/655-9188 Pager > chip.yarborough@... > > > RE: 911:: 911 " greeting " > > Due to EMD requirements, we started answering the phones back in May with > " Lehigh County 9-1-1, What is the EXACT location of your emergency? " > Seems to be working just fine. > > LaurieB > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 19, 2000 Report Share Posted September 19, 2000 In a message dated 9/18/2000 4:33:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time, chip.yarborough@... writes: << We started answering our lines the same way because of EMD about a year ago. >> Am I missing something? What EMD forum do you use that dictates how you answer your imcoming 9-1-1 lines? Just curious Toni Wyman, (CTO)...Gwinnett County Police, GA (just N of HotLanta) 770 Hi Hope Rd, Lawrenceville, GA 30046 (These are only my opinions, not my agency's, after all they are the government and they have opinions of their own) For liability reasons my posts and opinions are to be reprinted with my permission only. ALSO any solicitation of business with my agency should come through me if you have my name from this list. NO outside solicitors may contact anyone other than myself. Email to: E911GAL136@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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