OT: 911 outage in 4 states

[yesrutgers01]

there was a time when my wife's health caused 911 to be called more than a few times a year.
Never had to wait for 911 operator to get on phone and start helping.
Now only occasionally and never a problem ,one year ago was the last time 911 was used
Some people seem to imply 911 isn't working right in their area, and ( my guess) that might mean an understaffed issue causing delays of getting to a live operator and inadequate funding to keep the 911 system working like it should.
Budget cuts might be the real problem when calling 911 isn't getting immediate help
Also it's been mentioned that non emergency calls tie up help, that is a problem , especially if there is a shortage of qualified operators to handle the calls

in my area- for a strange reason- it asks to put in my zipcode- and then I go immediately to the local police dept number...

 

[Barnaby&Neill]

agree

that said, 911 is usually for the clean up so does it really matter? What I mean is, fewer than 3% of the calls are for violent confrontations and a recent Stanford study concluded that 911 was being used for less than intended and should be reinvented. That doesn't even get into the fact that studies show police really don't stop crime, again more of a clean up crew.

CCW baby!!!!!

so have a scotch, clean your carry pistol and yippie ki-ya mfer

The violent criminal threat angle is probably a small % of 911’s use, I imagine its much more useful for things that happen more frequently: health issues, fires, accidents, etc.

 

[yesrutgers01]

The violent criminal threat angle is probably a small % of 911’s use, I imagine its much more useful for things that happen more frequently: health issues, fires, accidents, etc.

And health issues and fires- no one on the line wants to hear anything but a live human.