It's been said things happen in threes, particularly bad things like accidents, injuries, and death. Assuming this phenomenon holds true for your average 9-1-1- call, I should have met my quota for needing the services of our township's emergency responders. First, I would like to state for the record that the police chief himself said we should "never hesitate to call 9-1-1." We shouldn't be concerned that it "might be nothing." Being someone who always listens to authority, I took the chief at his word and decided to be "better safe than sorry."
On three separate occasions. In less than 30 days.
I swear under oath that I was not crying wolf.
The first time I called, my home's carbon monoxide dectector alarm had gone off. This was not the merely annyong chirp of the dead battery, this was a hellacious, high-pitched beeping. The real deal. Red light and all. I was hanging out in my bedroom, in my bathing suit, playing on my iPad while waiting for my daughter and her friend to get ready to go to the pool. If I didn't believe it might be a true emergency, do you really think I would have put myself in the position of having to run out of my house on a lovely Sunday afternoon to stand in the front yard waiting for the fire truck in my bathing suit? I like attention, but that was a little much, even for me.
Per the operator's instructions, I had everyone out of the house and we waited for the emergency responders for what felt like forever. The alarm was going off the whole time....until about 30 seconds before you showed up. No lie. The fact that there was nothing amiss when you all arrived naturally made me look like a delusional or desperate housewife in need of a little action.
And speaking of you ALL arriving, can I just say that I believe the township went a bit overboard in its response? Five fire trucks, with sirens? The 9-1-1 operator didn't suggest there were flames of any kind, did she? Heck, even if there had been actual carbon monoxide (versus a malfunctioning detector) and my children and I were passed out in the house, it would not have taken fifteen people to pull us out. I think the firefighters were all bored that day. Or they heard I was in my bathing suit and they wanted a good laugh.
Now, regarding call number two...
I need to point out that the police chief encouraged us to use 9-1-1 during a township meeting to address an increasing number of break-ins. And last week, when that man rang my doorbell, I thought he could be a criminal. I knew he was definitely a stranger. And I do have that "No Solicitors" sign in my window which I thought you said would keep all the bad or annoying people away. And then Abby said she thought she heard him try to open the front door. That did it. I called the fuzz.
While I was on the phone with the operator, I saw my solicitor/criminal at my neighbor's house with a little boy about Abby's age. The boy had a briefcase. They were walking away from my neighbor's front door and heading down their driveway. Suspicious behavior indeed.
After I made the call I must have returned to my home office in the back of the house. That's the only way I can explain missing the police response. Five speeding cars to chase down one man and one small boy. Five is a good number for you guys, huh? You all must have scared those Jehovah's Witnesses half to death. Does one go to hell for calling the cops on Jehovah's Witnesses? Honestly, I didn't know. I'm sure I wouldn't have called you if I'd known who they were. Probably not, anyway.
The third time I called, this past Friday, I really think I saw a bad guy. He walked past our summer fun facilitator's car (Shane's) which was parked on the street, and he tried to open the door. So I called 9-1-1. I thought it was weird when the operator said "Hello, Kim," but I proceeded to relay my story. As I told her about the car, we watched this guilty looking guy walk down to a neighbor's house (looking in their cars, too) and then proceed to walk down their driveway. Then he turned around and walked back up the street passing our house again.
And then you showed up. And you pulled up next to him and he kept gesturing to the neighbor's house. And then you frisked him (which was cool!) and put him in the back of your vehicle. I must say I was a bit surprised when you drove him back to the neighbor's house and let him out there. Then your colleague tells me that the guy said he's doing work in our neighbor's backyard. I reiterated what we saw. The officer didn't call me a liar, but he didn't arrest the guy on suspicion of criminal intent either. I don't know that you can actually arrest someone on suspicion of criminal intent, but it sounds good. I should mention that later I saw the same guy walking back up the street away from the neighbor's house. But I didn't call 9-1-1 that time.
Oh, just one last thing. Don't think I didn't notice that for this third call, the one involving an actual criminal (so much for innocent until proven guilty, huh?), you only sent two police cars. It's almost as if you've decided a 9-1-1- call from me isn't likely to be important. Again, I swear under oath that I was not crying wolf.
2 comments:
I believe you. The carbon monoxide thing can happen to anyone (and we both know it has!). Better safe than sorry. And I had a conversation with the chief in which he said exactly what you said he said. If he didn't actually steal anything, it might have been hard for the cops to do anything. But don't be afraid to stand up for your neighborhood. That kind of call is how they catch these guys. And if the police get snarky, call the chief.
the flip side of this is that we were doing some construction at my office, and they had the window open, and dust was blowing out, and it sort of looked like smoke. But it wasn't! So a passerby called 911 and the fire department showed up, and they were none too happy about things. So my boss said, "can't we just tell them to ignore any calls about our building?". Um no. That's just not how it works. Luckily, the dust abated and no further 911 calls were made.
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