...then how about reducing incoming 911 calls?
We've had this rumor pop up every so often in the comment sections and a lot of people e-mail us with rumors of a "committee" that's revamping the OEMC protocols for 911 calls. As we understand it (and someone can correct us if we're wrong), the Police Department dictates what OEMC can take as an "emergency" call. This dates back to O.W. Wilson's policy of "If they call the police, we'll send the police."
All well and good when most of society understood what constituted an emergency. But nowadays, an entire swath of society thinks the police are social workers and ministers and marriage counselors and landlords and whatever else they can pawn off on the Department while avoiding taking responsibility for their own actions/choices/decisions.
The majority of comments and e-mails we get propose that the Department has to come out with a list of calls that police won't be responding to, and then stick with it - child misbehaving, child missing school, landlord/tenant disputes, things like that. We'd add more like putting out drunk relatives, most thefts, vacant building checks and such. Aldercreature offices, 3-1-1 and other departments are more than adequate for some of these issues.
We're sure the readers will have plenty of suggestions for this list. If we're doing more with less, why not clear off some of the bullshit and make sure we're concentrating our effort on the meat of the situation?
We've had this rumor pop up every so often in the comment sections and a lot of people e-mail us with rumors of a "committee" that's revamping the OEMC protocols for 911 calls. As we understand it (and someone can correct us if we're wrong), the Police Department dictates what OEMC can take as an "emergency" call. This dates back to O.W. Wilson's policy of "If they call the police, we'll send the police."
All well and good when most of society understood what constituted an emergency. But nowadays, an entire swath of society thinks the police are social workers and ministers and marriage counselors and landlords and whatever else they can pawn off on the Department while avoiding taking responsibility for their own actions/choices/decisions.
The majority of comments and e-mails we get propose that the Department has to come out with a list of calls that police won't be responding to, and then stick with it - child misbehaving, child missing school, landlord/tenant disputes, things like that. We'd add more like putting out drunk relatives, most thefts, vacant building checks and such. Aldercreature offices, 3-1-1 and other departments are more than adequate for some of these issues.
We're sure the readers will have plenty of suggestions for this list. If we're doing more with less, why not clear off some of the bullshit and make sure we're concentrating our effort on the meat of the situation?