called 911.

[MKEITH]

At 8:30 the other night, the wife and I were out on the front porch and heard two people start yelling on the other side of a tree line across the street from the house. You could tell it was two different voices and that they werent happy with each other.All of a sudden we heard bang bang bang boom boom bang boom boom bang bang. Sounded like a pistol and a shotgun. A few seconds later we heard tires sqealing and a car accelerating away. Got my wife and son into the back of the house, and started to pull toys out of the safe.


Next I called 911 and described to them what had happened. made sure that they knew that shots had been fired in a residential area.Then we waited for twenty two minutes before an officer got here.


This really drove home the fact that when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.Don't get me wrong,I know that they are overworked, underpaid, and underapreciated, but I would have thought that a call like this would have brought them quicker than this. This isn't ment to be a cop bashing thread, and if you feel you must, please go do it in another thread, because I take that as a personal insult on my family. This thread is just to reinforce the fact that we have to take responsibility for our own safety.As hard as most officers try to do their jobs the best that they can, the just can't be evreywere at once.


Well the wife says it's bedtime, so I will talk to ya'll tomarrow.

 

[P95loser]

So, what happened... was it gunfire?

 

[Nix]

its funny how your toys and hobby pieces become your best friend and your greatest source of strength in a bad situation. im glad to hear the fight wasnt brought to your doorstep.

 

[Larryect]

When I lived in the county area (surrounded by city) it could easily take 30 minutes or more because there were only two officers assigned to the area and they could easily be vary far away. Moved across the city border and have MUCH better response (still minutes, but fewer).

Resources (money) allocated is the key......

 

[v35]

Then we waited for twenty two minutes before an officer got here.

About thirty five minutes less than I had to wait last time I called 911. Not bad!

 

[gunsmith]

5 minutes can feel like an hour

here in Reno, the cops are here in 5 or less unless it is fri/sat

any ideas what happened?

 

[MKEITH]

P95loser yes it was gunfire. We never did hear back from the responding officer about what he found though.

 

[brentn]

I would have done the same thing, I would have grabbed my dad and two shotguns and send the sister and/or girlfriend downstairs.

 

[Fumbler]

Funny I'm reading this thread.
I'm on travel status for some work related training and I'm staying in a hotel.
About 10 minutes ago I heard 8 shots, sounded like a 45.
This is in a small town, but well within town limits.

It's probably just some redneck or gangster wannabe having some fun with a new toy, but you never know when you'll come accross some crazy folk.
Maintaining your own situational awareness and not completely relying on the cops is the best mindset.

Calling the cops is the right thing to do.
Sometimes they show up in a couple of minutes, other times it takes forever. Heck, sometimes they never even show up.
You can't fault them. They're doing their jobs and we all know we get stretched thin in our own jobs sometimes.

I'm a wildland firefighter. The structural firefighters are great. They beat us to woods fires over 95% of the time because there are 7-10+ stations per county whereas we have only one forest service station per county.
It may take us an hour to get our heavy equipment in place.
This past summer we were having horrible problems in one county. We had resources pulled in from all over the state and still had a waiting list of 15 wildfires that we haven't even been to.

 

[jerkface11]

A little over a year ago we had to call the cops on a drunk at work who was threatening to beat someone up. As of right now they still haven't showed up.

 

[Nix]

when i first moved back to the states (left when i was a little kid) i tried calling the cops for the first few violent situations i was stuck near (lived in a bad area).

that is a mistake i will NEVER make again. I'll call the cops when its over, because thats when they will show up (if they do) anyway.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Sometimes It Works

In 1984 I had just moved into an apartment on the West side of Las Vegas.

Our complex (on West Charleston) adjoined a "sister" complex (on Torrey Pines), separated by a large iron gate and wrought iron fence.

One evening I found myself on the balcony looking down into the adjoining parking lot and observed a couple in a car. There was some activity, then a flurry, then a scream of "Stop that! No! Don't!"

I called police dispatch (rather than 911, 'cuz hey, I wasn't sure it was an emergency) and told the dispatcher in a dispassionate fashion that there had been a couple in a car, screams, then they had left and gone into one of the apartments.

Funny, when you sound bored describing what is very likely a violent incident, the dispatcher gets all anxious. When you're all excited, they sound "all business" and professionally bored. So, anyway.

Ten minutes, tops. Two units. I flag them from the balcony and indicate which car. They run the plate. Plate goes with an apartment 50 feet away. Knock on door. Bang on door. Door opens. Officers go in. Yelling. A scream. Officers emerge with a dude in cuffs and drive off with him.

I learned something from that, and it's proven out every time I've used it since.

If you can leave the excitement, the anxiety, the panic out of your voice when you call, when it's just a nonchalant report of someone being beaten or shot or stabbed, for some reason the dispatcher really gets engaged and the response time substantially improves.

Can't really explain it.

I just notice it seems to work.

 

[Heavy Metal Hero]

I just notice it seems to work.

Ah, but we need cold hard statistics.

 

[brentn]

meh, not to be a dink or anything, but relying on your advice because of a 'feeling' just isn't enough.

I think its generally safe to say that if you have time, call the cops and then prepare to defend yourself. Or if you dont have time, probably 90% of the time, do what you need to do to stay alive/protected.

 

[Standing Wolf]

...I would have thought that a call like this would have brought them quicker than this.

Hope for the best; prepare for the worst.

 

[crankshop1000]

The real fact of life is that police are mainly report writers and documentors of events.Actual stopping of crime is a rare event.The smart cop learns early to wait for backup,never rush to a barfight and to avoid getting into a live fire situation (like shots fired) as it is going on.If he finds himself in the middle of something, well they are human and some respond better than others. That is why we need to remember that we are all responsible for our personal safety.Be alert,avoid trouble and don't forget to duck and run if you need to.Be prepared.

 

[crankshop1000]

The real fact of life is that police are mainly report writers and documentors of events.Actual stopping of crime is a rare event.The smart cop learns early to wait for backup,never rush to a barfight and to avoid getting into a live fire situation (like shots fired) as it is going on.If he finds himself in the middle of something, well they are human and some respond better than others. That is why we need to remember that we are all responsible for our personal safety.Be alert,avoid trouble and don't forget to duck and run if you need to.Be prepared.

 

[22-rimfire]

The police do the best they can. There is a difference between something that is happening at that moment and one that has already been completed. Yes, there could have been an injured party and they could have been dying during that 20 minutes. Again they do the best they can with what they have. Same goes with our military or any military for that matter.

 

[RKBABob]

ArfinGreebly wrote: If you can leave the excitement, the anxiety, the panic out of your voice when you call, when it's just a nonchalant report of someone being beaten or shot or stabbed, for some reason the dispatcher really gets engaged and the response time substantially improves.

I think that an excited person may be assumed to be exaggerating the incident, or to be an actual participant... sometimes resulting in the call being marked as a "disturbance." Calmly relaying what you have seen to the dispatcher makes your account more believable, and probably results in a higher priority and more details being passed to the responding officers.

I've seen a sub-five-minute response time from the police whenever I had to call 911...
That's about the best I could ask for.
Getting an ambulance takes quite a bit longer... that bothers me a little.

 

[MaddSkillz]

In general, police officers don't keep a crime from happening they find the perps after it.

 

[DonP]

OK, I'll state the obvious, with full recognition for the tough job LEO's have every day and no malice toward the hard working beat cops out there.

"When seconds count, the police are only minutes away (if you're lucky)."

In extremis you darn well better have a plan B that can save your rear, or at least be able hold them off until "the cavalry" arrives.

Here in Chicago the Ronyale White story reinforces that. 3 calls to 911, one when her ex said he was coming for her, another when he tried to break in the door and a third when he had broken in and they recorded him killing her on the 911 tape.

It was metro Chicago and the police arrived in 16 minutes from her call.

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

We need to be able to defend ourselves until the police arrive. In rural spots, that can be a loooonnng time

 

[The Unknown User]

Can't really explain it.

I just notice it seems to work.

I think it's because the expectations of the dispatcher have not been fulfilled. They expect to be taking calls from people who are in danger, have just witnessed something they'll need therapy for, or anything along those lines. If you're a dispatcher, and you take a call from someone who's calm and collected, it sort of "snaps" you out of your "daze," if you will. You're used to hearing people scream to the point they become incoherent; you're not used to people calmly telling you of dangerous situations occurring.

It's the same reason why many movie characters are portrayed as cold and calculated. The lack of ability to relate to them on an interpersonal level helps create slight tension--the same tension a dispatcher would feel when they receive an unusual call.

 

[MKEITH]

When I called, I was pretty calm. I wasn't nessesarily worried for my own safety, as I could hear that people had already left from the area. At that point, we just stuck to the plan the wife and I have for just such an occasion. And yes,the dispatcher did sound a lot more exited the longer we were on the phone.

 

[Bones11b]

saw this in today's paper.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12042007/news/regionalnews/dead_woman_found_in_home_after_2_years_55084.htm

Relevent parts:
December 4, 2007 -- The skeletal remains of a reclusive elderly woman, fully clothed as if she'd been about to go out, were found in her Brooklyn home yesterday - two years to the month since neighbors last reported seeing her.

Neighbors said they last saw Copeman alive in December 2005 - and they claimed that they called 311 and 911 numerous times, but that nothing happened.

When seconds count the police are only two and a half years away.