Detroit 911 Operator Convicted of Willful Neglect

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AnneMarble

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In April 2006, five-year-old Robert Turner called 911 -- twice -- to report that his mother was unconscious. Unfortunately, it sounds as if both of the 911 operators had their minds made up from the start -- so his call was labeled as a "prank." Not only that, but the operators can be heard scolding him on the tapes. Worse yet, by the time police finally got there, three hours later, the boy's mother was dead. :( Experts think she would have survived if she had received proper medical attention. You can read earlier coverage of the case here and elsewhere on-line.

Now, the first 911 operator has been convicted of willful neglect of duty. She could serve up to one year. It's a misdemeanor, however. :rolleyes: At the trial, she testified that she couldn't hear him on the other end of the line. Robert, however, could hear her very clearly. If you read the transcript, that doesn't make sense as she clearly seems to be responding to the boy! Anyway, whether she heard someone or not, even though many of the calls they get are pranks, they're supposed to treat all calls seriously -- because you can't always tell which calls are serious! (Even the calls where you can't hear the person can be deadly serious.)

Also, charges were dismissed against the second 911 operator, who disobeyed protocol by sending the police instead of emergency personnel. You can see a YouTube clip of a news report here.
 

Bartholomew

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They're both criminally neglectful. Their job is to send emergency services, period. A call like that shouldn't have been ignored.
 

Unique

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They're both criminally neglectful. Their job is to send emergency services, period. A call like that shouldn't have been ignored.

If that had been Birmingham (MI) it probably wouldn't have been.

and sometimes life just sux.
 

Unique

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well, dude -

what do you think it is that makes it suck, then? Eh?
 

kristie911

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I admit when this case was first in the news, my first reaction was to defend the operators. Then I heard the entire call in a class I took and they got what they deserved. Yes, it's just a misdemeanor but well they were definitely neglectful in their duties, it doesn't deserve a felony charge. They'll never work in the 911 field again and that's fine with me. They made all 911 operators look bad that day and that pisses me off.

And on the flip side, just because I know a lot of people have no idea what we deal with day to day. This summer a 6 year old got a hold of an old cell phone (deactivated) and called 911 over 600 times in the course of 4 or 5 weeks (sometimes twenty times in a row) and when we'd answer he'd say things like, "you're a fucking bitch" "whore" or "kiss my fucking ass" and we'd hang up. We finally caught him when a friend he was with accidentally said his name in the background during a call.

Yes, it's very easy to get burned out doing this job but the key is to know when it's time to get out. Obviously these dispatchers didn't.
 
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