In progress burglary

[Nutfarmer]

I totally lost it with the sheriff dispatcher today. Came home and interrupted a burglary in progress. What would a normal person do? Call 911. The dispatcher chewed me out and told me 911 was only for emergencies. And how dare I call 911 for a burglary in progress. I am left totally in dis belief. When in what world is a crime in progress not a 911 call? The number she gave me wasn’t even working. We had the prep cornered and an hour and a half later the sheriff deputy showed up after the neighbor called. Of course the perp is long gone. Only in California. I am done. Ccw here I come. When you have to face a burglar and 911 blows you off. What are we coming to? I give up.

 

[Just for fun]

Holy cow, that is hard to believe. I wonder what kind of emergency 911 is for if not for burglary in progress?

 

[SouthernChap]

That's crazy.

I would say a strong communication with the dispatcher's management is in order here.

That's pretty much gross negligence on the part of the dispatcher right there. An instant dismissal would normally be the consequences for gross negligence, particularly in a critical situation like that.

It seems you were able to resolve the situation wirh no harm to yourself but what if the caller had been someone unable to do so? It's important that dispatcher becomes an ex-dispatcher for the sake of anybody depending on your police service.

Pretty sure here in the UK, a dispatcher's negligence of that nature would be headline news. The coppers might turn up late (too late in some/many cases), but no 999 caller would be told that a burglary in progress wasn't an appropriate situation in which to call 999.

 

[snoopdog]

Ugh, about a year and a half ago, guy comes up the road, dead end, gets just past my property line and stops in the middle of the road, and just sits there. I walk up, and he doesn't even see mee, obviously on drugs, waving his arms around and yelling, alone. Call the sheriff, blah blah blah, everybody's busy. After several more calls, about an hour and a half. He rolls his jeep backwards and starts it, pulls into my yard apparently going to turn around and leave, and kills it. So now he's in the yard doing his thing, I'm hid with the 12g, waiting, and another couple of calls and another hour the sheriff finally shows up. Gave them a pretty good tongue lashing over the phone the last time, of course they were all apologetic when they showed.

 

[Gaffer]

Your call was absolutely appropriate, and the dispatcher should be reprimanded. I would initiate a formal complaint the the sheriff’s professional standards division (internal affairs). I am confident they will investigate it and deal with it appropriately. Please don’t let it go unreported. The department can’t fix the problem if they don’t know about it. These stories are embarrassing and oiss me off

Was the deputy sympathetic or an A-hole. Did he or she explain the delayed response? At the risk of being political, California law enforcement goes after crooks aggressively and are at odds with legislators and any elected official soft on crime. I’m sorry you were victimized twice.

 

[RandyM]

So..........What constitutes an emergency?

 

[toprecyler]

Definitely call someone else to report it to someone higher up the ladder.

I’ve heard reports that if they hear gunshots in the background, police might come quicker. Maybe have to have some firecrackers set off in the background when calling?

However, as I try to think about situations from the other side, I would not care to be a police officer. Most of the time, they are doing a thankless job, with very dangerous work sometimes, ( even though most of the work I have done over the years has its drawbacks too). Maybe the extra long wait was for a good reason.

It’s just bad when you come across an officer that has an unnecessary “in charge” attitude.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[markba633csi]

What you do is give the phone to the perp so he can be directed to the proper agency, while you hold him with your assault weapon.
What, you don't have an assault weapon?
LOL

 

[RJSakowski]

One has to remember that in the US, sheriff's departments are county operations and that sheriffs are elected officials. Each department will have its own operating procedures. 911, OTOH, is multi-juristintional and I believe that there is both state and federal oversight.

We have used the 911 service only a few times since inception. The dispatcher is actually located in the county Although they didn't have a direct line to the sheriff's department in our county, they did have the appropriate phone number at hand and called the emergency in. I have both the sheriff's dispatcher and the non-emergency number on file. I make a judgement call as to the emergency status and if, in my mind, I believe that it is an emergency, I'll call the dispatcher and first apologize if my decision was wrong and then report it. I have always received prompt and courteous attention.

That said, we are twenty minutes away from the sheriff's department and we rarely see a sheriff's vehicle out in our remote part of the county. If there is some action required on an immediate basis, I pretty well figure that I will have to handle it myself.

 

[Gaffer]

In So Cal, LE agencies, police, and sheriff's departments have their dispatch centers, and everyone there is an employee of that agency. I can't speak for No Cal, but it's likely the same. Calling 911 from a mobile phone goes to the CHP dispatch center, which transfers the call to the appropriate agency. EMS agencies have their dispatch centers. Some could be regional. I'm sure other states do things much differently.

Again, you should call and make a formal complaint. A burglary in progress is extremely dangerous, and LE agencies in CA, governed by POST, all trained the same - it is a high-priority call.