New York City Shifting Mental Health Calls From NYPD To Actual Mental Health Professionals

from the keeping-more-people-alive-is-always-a-net-positive dept

In all honesty, we've been asking the police to do too much for years. If we really care about the most vulnerable members of our community, we would stop calling cops to handle it. But for years, that's been pretty much our only option. We call 911 and 911 tends to send cops to deal with people in the throes of mental health crises.

This has worked out badly. Cops aren't trained to handle mental health issues. They're trained to apprehend criminals and meet latent threats with deadly force. People who just need a good doctor are ending up with bullets in them. In far too many cases, suicide threats end with the suicidal person dead. That's not what we want from the police. Unfortunately, that's all they really have to offer. And that's how courts end up excusing cops for, say, tasing a person doused in gasoline, ensuring the latent threat they poised became a reality, killing the person needing help, and burning down the house around him.

Cities are beginning to take another approach to mental health issues. Wellness checks are better handled by mental health professionals. It's a conclusion that seems obvious but is rarely embraced by law enforcement and the local governments overseeing them. There's a time and place for law enforcement response. Someone suffering from mental health issues isn't a police matter. Neither is homelessness. Neither is bog standard trespassing, which often just means someone saw someone where they didn't expect to see someone.

Routing these calls to people trained to respond appropriately works. A pilot program in Denver, Colorado just wrapped up six months of rerouting, resulting in no deaths, no wounding, and no arrests, despite handling more than 350 calls. Police still handle most 911 calls, but even in a part-time capacity, Denver's new mental health response team has shown an improvement over how these calls have been handled historically.

And now it appears the largest police department in the nation will be handing off mental health calls to mental health professionals. The NYPD will no longer be handling some calls related to issues that really don't require a show of force in response. The program was first announced late last year in response to the killing of Daniel Prude -- a man suffering a mental breakdown -- by Rochester, New York police officers.

Mental health workers will replace police officers in responding to some 911 calls next year in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.

The test program, to be rolled out in two neighborhoods, will give mental health professionals the lead role when someone calls 911 because a family member is in crisis, officials said.

The initiative is modeled on existing programs in cities including Eugene, Oregon, where teams of paramedics and crisis workers have been responding to mental health 911 calls for more than 30 years.

The limited rollout is now expanding to cover one of New York City's largest boroughs.

New York City police will stay out of many mental health crisis calls and social workers will respond instead in parts of northern Manhattan starting this spring, an official told lawmakers Monday.

The test program will begin in three Harlem and East Harlem police precincts that together accounted for a highest-in-the-city total of over 7,400 mental health-related 911 calls last year, said Susan Herman, who heads a wide-ranging city mental health initiative called ThriveNYC.

The program will continue to expand for the next couple of years. NYPD officers will no longer be expected to handle certain calls and will be able to ask for assistance from this unit if a call they respond to requires their assistance.

Officers will still respond to calls involving weapons or "imminent risk of harm." This leeway should keep mental health professionals out of harm's way. But it will also increase the risk that mental health crises will see force -- rather than knowledge and de-escalation -- deployed in response to certain 911 calls.

Still, it's a positive step. The NYPD -- and its union reps -- have been uninterested in seeing EMTs and healthcare professionals insert themselves into this part of the law enforcement equation. And the stats show the NYPD hasn't been as awful at handling health issues as some other police departments elsewhere in the nation. Fewer than 1 in 100 calls resulted in arrest. However, half of those calls ended with hospitalization. This could be a positive. Hospitalization is often the desired outcome in mental health crises. But the stats cited in this report do not break down hospitalizations to show which are due to injuries sustained during arrests/detainments and which were due to appropriate responses to mental health issues.

But overall this appears to be a positive step forward. It has worked elsewhere in the nation so there's no reason to believe this won't be a net gain for New York City residents. Cops don't have all the answers. And they certainly don't have all the training needed to handle problems better addressed by healthcare professionals. Anything that removes these judgment calls from the equation will help more New Yorkers stay alive and unharmed when suffering mental health issues.

Filed Under: 911, mental health, nyc, nypd, police

Mental Health Team Handling 911 Calls In Denver Wraps Up Six Months With Dozens Of People Helped, Zero People Arrested

from the more-people-alive,-unbeaten,-and-unjailed dept

In June of last year -- as protests over police brutality occurred all over the nation -- Denver, Colorado rolled out a program that combined common sense with a slight "defunding" of its police department. It decided calls that might be better handled by social workers and mental health professionals should be handled by… social workers and mental health professionals.

The city's STAR (Support Team Assistance Response) team was given the power to handle 911 calls that didn't appear to deal with criminal issues. Calls related to mental health or social issues were routed to STAR, allowing cops to handle actual crime and allowing people in crisis to avoid having to deal with people who tend to treat every problem like a crime problem.

In its first three months, STAR handled 350 calls -- only a very small percentage of 911 calls. But the immediate developments appeared positive. A supposed indecent exposure call handled by STAR turned out to be a homeless woman changing clothes in an alley. A trespassing call turned out to be another homeless person setting up a tent near some homes. Suicidal persons were helped and taken to care centers. Homeless residents were taken to shelters. No one was arrested. No one was beaten, tased, or shot.

The zero arrests streak continues. STAR has released its six-month report [PDF] and the calls it has handled have yet to result in an arrest, strongly suggesting police officers aren't the best personnel to handle crises like these -- unless the desired result is more people in holding cells.

Granted, this is a very limited data set. At this point, STAR only has enough funding to support one van to handle calls during normal business hours: Monday-Friday from 10 am to 6 pm. Despite these limitations, the team handled 748 calls (about six calls per shift). Roughly a third of the calls handled came from police officers themselves, who requested STAR respond to an incident/call.

Not only did none of the 748 calls result in an arrest, but STAR got things under control faster than law enforcement officers.

The median STAR response required 24.65 minutes of on-scene personnel time to resolve the call compared to 34.08 minutes for a traditional response.

And things should continue to improve once STAR is given a bit more funding to work with.

The City and County of Denver has identified approximately $1.4 million in the general fund to support the STAR program in 2021. If we use the current budget estimates for the cost of purchasing and outfitting additional vans and hiring additional medics and mental health clinicians to staff the expanded units, we believe the City could move forward with the purchase of four vans and six teams (one medic and one clinician) to staff alternating schedules seven days a week. This will allow for coverage during the times of day when there would be the call load to support the units based on our pilot data and the hours with which most providers would be available for a warm hand-off of individuals.

This is a positive move forward for Denver and it's something that can scale and be replicated by other cities. One of STAR's goals was to "divert individuals away from the criminal justice system" and it has definitely accomplished that. Not every 911 call requires a law enforcement response. It makes the most sense to send people with the best set of skills to handle these calls, rather than the people who just have the most weapons.

Filed Under: 911, defund the police, denver, mental health, police brutality, police reform

Denver Now Routing 911 Calls About Mental Health Issues Away From Cops, Towards Trained Health Professionals

from the saving-lives-by-limiting-state-violence dept

Sending out armed law enforcement officers to handle mental health crises has often been a bad idea. Situations that require compassion, de-escalation, and nuance are far too often greeted with force, more force, and deadly force. Since there's always "excited delirium" to excuse the deaths caused by officers ill-equipped to deal with mental health issues, very little has changed. Until now.

Recently, there has been a nationwide uprising against police brutality and the senseless killing of unarmed citizens by law enforcement officers. Legislators are actively pursuing reform efforts and finally suggesting some things cops just aren't trained to do well should be handled by others who can handle them better. Some police officials believe this is "defunding." But it isn't. It's just taking money being used badly and rerouting it to programs and personnel who are specifically trained to work with people suffering from mental health issues.

A lot of city lawmakers are talking about shifting resources away from the "guys with guns" approach that has seen a great many people in need of health intervention "assisted" to death by police officers. The city of Denver is actually doing something about it. Denver's Support Team Assistance Response (STAR) -- launched four days after George Floyd-related protests began in Denver -- sends out health professionals and paramedics to respond to 911 calls about people behaving erratically.

Since its launch June 1, the STAR van has responded to more than 350 calls, replacing police in matters that don’t threaten public safety and are often connected to unmet mental or physical needs. The goal is to connect people who pose no danger with services and resources while freeing up police to respond to other calls. The team, which is not armed, has not called police for backup, [Carleigh] Sailon said.

This limits the number of interactions involving weapons with the power to maim or kill. This makes it a program that saves lives -- not only because the STAR team gets people the help they need, but because it prevents situations from escalating to the point where jailing or force deployment (or both) seem to be the only options. This new task force is all that much more important since so many Denver residents appear to feel 911 is just a city customer service line.

The team has responded to an indecent exposure call that turned out to be a woman changing clothes in an alley because she was unhoused and had no other private place to go. They’ve been called out to a trespassing call for a man who was setting up a tent near someone’s home. They’ve helped people experiencing suicidal thoughts, people slumped against a fence, people simply acting strange.

The STAR team only handles a small percentage of the city's 911 calls. Most are still handled by law enforcement. But it does free up police resources to handle situations requiring their presence, rather than asking under-trained officers to handle everything residents ask them to handle because they don't know who else to ask.

Police are always talking about working smarter. But they rarely seem to recognize their own shortcomings could be addressed by others who won't take an approach that ends in death, arrest, or injury. They should embrace programs like these that allow them to pursue actual criminals, rather than treating people who are victims of mental illness, homelessness, or suicidal thoughts like criminals because that's how they're trained to treat everyone.

Filed Under: 911, denver, mental health

New York Residents Unprotected, Served Up To Criminals By NYPD Employees

from the YEAH-BUT-WE'RE-THE-ONLY-GAME-IN-TOWN dept

Yeah, it's real easy to sit back and second guess the hard work of law enforcement officers. Secure and safe in our warm homes, far away from the mean streets and thin blue line separating us from the criminal apocalypse, we have it easy. As one of the NYPD's unions pointed out, citizens like us are clueless. We've (and I'm directly quoting here) "grown up on the nipple of what's easy." We "have no clue what a NYPD officer does," and yet we criticize and disparage them.

Then one day -- after years of criticism and disparagement and [re-reads tweet] nipples -- we'll find we need them. "Evil will be at our door," as the NYC PBA says. When that happens, we cop-haters will call for help. We will finally recognize we need them. After all, when all hell breaks loose, who else is going to respond to our calls for help and… um… sell our personal info to insurance scam artists?

Six current and former NYPD employees, which included one cop and five 911 operators, were arrested by the feds as authorities smashed a massive $18 million New York insurance fraud operation, the Daily News learned Thursday.

Police Officer Yaniris Deleon was taken into custody in Manhattan while on duty Wednesday after federal agents surrounded her with assault weapons drawn, sources with knowledge of the case said.

[...]

Deleon, five 911 operators and a supervising 911 operator allegedly provided the medical insurance scammers with names, phone numbers and confidential information about car accident victims. The runners then reached out to the victims and steered them toward clinics that would bill medical insurance companies for treatments and procedures they didn’t need.

This is fantastic news for first responders and New York's Finest. Not so much because it makes some "bad apples™" look bad, but because it shows them there's a faster route to extra cash than timecard abuse.

If you give people in power access to a lot of personal info, they will abuse this access eventually. It's not an "if." It's a "when." Not everyone will abuse this access as much as these government employees did, but a wealth of personal data just a couple of clicks away is a very tempting target. Especially when it can significantly boost the income of the underappreciated heroes keeping the city safe.

According to this report, these employees made about $4,000 a month from feeding personal info to scam artists. It also says operators were promised about $24-30,000 "off the books" for continued supply of contact info, so it's unclear how much any of the arrested employees actually made assisting scammers. However, this selling of personal data allegedly dates back to 2014.

But the officer and 911 operators were only making pennies on the dollar. The middle men were making themselves millionaires.

The scammers received about $3,000 a referral to attorneys and shady doctors, according to court papers. The group made about 6,000 successful referrals over the last five years, netting about $18 million, officials said.

The names, addresses and contact numbers for about 60,000 car accident victims were steered to the scam artists over the last five years, officials said.

Oh my. This is going to lead to a whole lot of litigation. Government employees misusing their power and access to serve up citizens to scam artists is the sort of abuse that can't be handled solely through prosecution. The government may go after the involved employees and everyone on the non-government side who benefited from this arrangement, but plenty of residents are going to be legitimately pissed that the government they were told to trust sent them off to undergo unnecessary medical procedures.

Maybe this set of prosecutions will act as a deterrent. Or maybe it will just be seen as the exception to the rule, and abuse of access will continue at its normal pace. Whatever the result, at least more citizens will be aware how much damage the government can do with all the information it demands we relinquish in exchange for government goods and services.

And they'll see how much of this "thin blue line" crap is self-righteous bullshit. The blue line doesn't stand between civilians and evil. It stands between cops and accountability. Because if anyone took accountability seriously, this sort of thing would be far rarer than it is. It only becomes common when few people are worried about the potential downsides of abusing their positions. And when it's common practice, that's when people start getting caught.

Filed Under: 911, fraud, insurance, medical fraud, medical insurance fraud, ny, nypd, scams

Wireless Carriers Busted Sharing User 911 Location Data

from the bottomless-well-of-dysfunction dept

Recent scandals involving companies like Securus and LocationSmart made it clear that cellular carriers are collecting and selling an ocean of user location data without any meaningful oversight. Several reports have highlighted how that data is then being routinely abused by everybody from ethically dubious local Sheriffs to bounty hunters. Subsequent investigations have shown how easy it is for bounty hunters and others to access this data, and how the FCC under several administrations has failed utterly to hold cellular carriers and data brokers accountable for any of it.

This week, Motherboard exposed another location data scandal with a report highlighting how cellular carriers are also selling private user A-GPS data with companies that aren't supposed to have access to it. A-GPS, or assisted GPS, involves using a device's onboard GPS chip as well as cellular network data to more quickly and precisely determine a user's location. Wireless industry filings with the government indicate this data can pinpoint a user's location indoors up to 50 meters; more precisely if a device's MAC and Bluetooth data are also utilized.

Motherboard's investigation focused specifically on a now-defunct location data broker by the name of CerCareOne, which had been selling cellular user location data -- including A-GPS data-- as recently as 2017. As with the other scandals, this scandal involves a universe of shady middlemen who buy and sell an ocean of such data, often without carriers understanding (or bothering to understand) how widespread the practice had become:

"Like with the companies involved in Motherboard’s previous investigation, CerCareOne’s real-time location data trickled down first from telecom companies, and then to a so-called location aggregator called Locaid. From there, Locaid sold that data access to a number of different companies, including CerCareOne, which in turn sold it to its own clients. Locaid was purchased by a company called LocationSmart in 2015 . The documents Motherboard obtained indicate that LocationSmart continued to sell data to CerCareOne after it obtained Locaid, and LocationSmart confirmed that to Motherboard."

The scale of the data collection was... not subtle:

"CerCareOne’s phone tracking service was not a one-off tool for bounty hunters and bail agents. A list of a particular customer’s phone pings obtained by Motherboard stretches on for around 450 pages, with more than 18,000 individual phone location requests in just over a year of activity. The bail bonds firm that initiated the pings did not respond to questions asking whether they obtained consent for locating the phones, or what the pings were for.

Another set of data is more than 250 pages long and covers around 10,000 phone pings. Another list of a different bounty hunter’s activity includes nearly 1,000 phone location requests in less than a year; a third details more than 4,500 pings."

The irony in this instance is that the FCC had crafted rules to specifically address this problem. Back in 2015 as the FCC was contemplating some new rules for enhanced 911 services, a coalition of privacy and consumer groups (including Public Knowledge, the EFF, and the ACLU) had written the agency warning that A-GPS and other granular data specifically used to aid in pinpointing 911 caller location (especially indoors) created the potential for some major privacy issues:

"The development of highly-precise location technologies designed to comply with the new regulations will raise a host of privacy concerns that have not been sufficiently addressed in the E911 proceeding. Public safety should not come at the expense of consumer privacy—nor should it have to."

The FCC obliged, and in 2017 finalized rules with carrier approval that specifically stated that this kind of A-GPS data should never be used for any purpose other than tracking user location for emergency services:

"CMRS providers must certify that they will not use the NEAD or associated data for any non-911 purpose, except as otherwise required by law."

Many carriers claim to have completely stopped sharing this and other forms of location data entirely with data brokers or anybody else. But it's going to take a comprehensive investigation to not only confirm that, but also to confirm that they're not currently engaging in even worse behavior. Especially since every time we think we've gotten to the bottom of this scandal, the floor drops out revealing countless additional layers beneath.

Even with Ajit Pai's efforts to neuter FCC authority over ISPs, I've spoken to at least four telecom and privacy experts who say the FCC very clearly has the authority and responsibility to stop this sharing of private data, they've just chosen not to -- despite the fact the agency had the foresight to craft rules specifically designed to stop this from happening.

Filed Under: 911, a-gps, bounty hunters, e-911, enforcement, fcc, location data, privacy
Companies: cercareone

Texas Deputy Sues 911 Caller For Not 'Adequately Warning' Him Of Potential Danger Or 'Making The Premises Safe'

from the so,-you-want-to-get-paid-for-investigating-only-'safe'-situations? dept

A very unique lawsuit being filed by a Texas sheriff's deputy has the chance to set a very chilling precedent if the court finds in favor of the plaintiff. In the history of ridiculous personal injury lawsuits, this one sets a new standard. Sure, we've seen criminals sue homeowners for injuries sustained during burglaries and customers sue businesses for their own failure to recognize that traditionally hot liquids are hot [a false equivalent as pointed out by many, many commenters -- my bad {TC}], but this is a brand new angle.

Here are the details on this recently-filed lawsuit.

A Houston-area deputy has sued the family of a man he fatally shot following a 911 call last year, alleging he and others who responded were not properly warned about the danger they faced.

In a lawsuit filed this week, Harris County sheriff's Deputy Brady Pullen is seeking up to $200,000 from Carmina Figueroa, a relative of Kemal Yazar, for injuries he suffered, including a concussion and a broken nose…

Figueroa "had a duty to exercise ordinary care in adequately (warning) others that her resident or guest Kamal Yazar posed a violent threat to others due to his ingestion or smoking of 'bath salts' or some other mind altering substance, and to make the premises safe," according to the lawsuit.

Pullen is seeking damages for past and future medical expenses, mental anguish and loss of past earning capacity.

Yes, a deputy is suing the family of a man he killed because he escaped the presumably deadly situation with a concussion and broken nose. Notably, other responding officers have decided not to file suit -- perhaps because they sustained no injuries, or perhaps because doing so would be incredibly stupid.

Two things that should be noted:

First, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia admits the lawsuit is "unusual" but is taking a hands-off approach to Pullen's legal battle. But more interesting than that is that the shooting itself is still "under investigation" despite occurring nearly 8 months ago on December 30, 2012. Apparently, Pullen and others involved have been on "paid administrative leave" since that point.

Second, and more pertinent to the case at hand, Pullen's own filing claims that he was called to the scene by EMS responders, which would place the liability for an "improper warning" on the EMS unit, not the homeowner. The first responders should have been able to convey any warning about the potential danger of the situation, and from Pullen's own words, they actually did.

On information and belief, someone at Defendant Figueroa's residence placed a "911" call on December 30, 2012, and requested that an ambulance be sent to Defendant's residence to treat Kemal Yazar who had been either smoking or ingesting a drug commonly called "bath salts" or some other mind altering substance for days. At some point in time, prior to calling EMS, because of Kemal Yazar's state of mind, Defendant decided to evacuate the children from the home for safety reasons. Plaintiff, a Harris County Deputy Sheriff, was dispatched to Defendant's residence to assist EMS with an "aggressive or non compliant person".

It certainly isn't the 911 caller's duty to provide the officer with all the details he or she will need to assess the situation. They aren't trained professionals who can provide an accurate assessment of the danger level. 911 callers are often in danger themselves, something that often prevents them from going into detail.

More bizarrely, Pullen claims 911 callers have a "duty" to "make the premises safe." If for no other reason, the lawsuit should be tossed because of this claim. What does Deputy Pullen think the emergency phone number is for? Reporting jaywalking and check fraud? The logic Pullen's deploying absolutely boggles the mind.

And even if you buy all of Pullen's ridiculous arguments, the fact remains that the defendant didn't call him to the scene. The EMS unit did and that's where the "liability" should lay.

Beyond that, there's the fact that law enforcement officers know that every situation they walk into is potentially dangerous, as Sheriff Garcia himself points out.

"As trained public servants, our presumption when receiving and responding to emergency calls is that there is an element of danger present. As public servants, it is our duty to respond to those calls as quickly as possible," Garcia said.

Attorney Joel Androphy says this lawsuit is highly problematic for citizens who find themselves in dangerous situations.

He adds, “if you allow suits like this to go forward, it will have a chilling effect on all people that want to make 9-1-1 calls because they will be afraid if something happens to the police officer”.

Valerie Salvati points out how far a suit like this would extend liability:

It would also raise the question of if an officer gets hurt on your property if you didn’t call them for help. Should a homeowner be responsible for the injuries of someone he didn’t want there in the first place? What if the homeowner isn’t aware of the extent of the danger in a given situation? It would seem more appropriate for this to be handled by workers compensation than in suing the homeowner.

Another attorney is even harsher in his assessment of Pullen's case:

Criminal Attorney Brian Wice calls the lawsuit "a slap in the face to first responders everywhere."

"Look, police officers know everyday, everywhere they go, they could be in a dangerous situation, so this guy is going to try step out and collect money for taking that risk," said Wice.

Holding individuals responsible for the actions of other adults has always been a terrible idea. Pursuing a personal injury lawsuit against someone else simply because the person who actually injured you is dead is a new low bar for vindictive pettiness. Doing this as a law enforcement officer whose job expectations include the possibility of being injured or killed -- and as someone who was warned the situation would be dangerous -- sets the bar so low its indistiguishable from the ground.

Filed Under: 911, lawsuits, texas

Dear Everyone: Stop Calling 911 If Your Cable Is Out When Breaking Bad Is On

from the breaking-emergency-services dept

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you have surely heard about AMC's hit show Breaking Bad, featuring Bryan Cranston cosplaying Gordon Freeman while making a ton of drugs and generally being an all-around badass. Fortunately for this story, journalistic integrity doesn't really include my opinion of the show, because I watch it enough that my dog and my fiancé can now recite the proper cooking method for a batch of blue crack-speed, which is a strange thing to hear from a dog, I have to tell you. Add to that AMC's being rather awesome when disputes with Dish Network prevented subscribers from seeing it on their TVs and I have something of a fanboi relationship with the show.

And yet, if I had a cable subscription and it went on the fritz during the latest episode, I probably wouldn't be on the horn with emergency services to get help like apparently everyone in Norwich, Connecticut was.

That's what happened last night in southern Connecticut when affected Optimum Cable subscribers decided that missing an episode of Breaking Bad or Eat Drink Love was akin to suffering a major heart attack. Service was down for about two hours during primetime because of a power outage in Norwich.

Confused as to what to do and too impatient to wait until the next day, people started calling 911. That unsurprisingly pissed off emergency dispatchers.

The result of this pissing-off of dispatchers was for emergency services to engage their snark-emitters on social media, informing everyone that abusing 911 services could result in arrest and that they wouldn't get cable in prison, either. Not bad, but I wonder how many of them had to resist the urge to dispatch SWAT to each and every caller to administer a bit of the old scared-straight tactic, because if my Gram-Gram needed an ambulance and couldn't get one because someone's cable was out, I'd be inclined to go full-psycho on them. So, please, people of the world and, more importantly, Connecticut, don't call for EMS because you can't watch Breaking Bad. Instead, Gawker offers a list of more productive activities you could engage in, such as swearing, eating a cookie, or maybe just wait until the morrow when AMC makes their episodes available on iTunes.

Filed Under: 911, breaking bad, cable service, police

Everyone Gets Angry At The Media Sometimes, But Calling 911 To Have 'The Media' Arrested Isn't A Good Idea

from the just-saying dept

Via Fark, we learn of a guy in Florida who apparently got somewhat drunk and decided to call 911 to ask to have "the media" arrested. He seemed particularly annoyed with the TV news. Apparently, the guy has a history of calling 911 for non-emergency purposes, such as 16 phone calls since November to 911 asking them to bring him business cards. Instead, they arrested him. The folks over at Mediaite were actually able to retrieve a copy of the drunken call, which is embedded below. The call is a bit incoherent. He kicks it off by asking who he's calling, and then says something about trying to call the sheriff to have himself arrested. But then he says something about the TV news, which he wants arrested for calling the sheriff's department 26 times. Then he says "bye," but the call doesn't end there, at which point the dispatcher explains to him that calling 911 without an emergency is against the law.

Filed Under: 911, drunk dialing

Calling 911? That'll Be $300

from the hope-it's-a-big-emergency dept

Apparently, the town of Tracy, California (a bit east of the Bay Area) has decided to turn 911 emergency calls into a profit center. Karl Bode points us to the news that the town now wants people to pay $300 for every 911 call. Of course, if you think you might be a frequent 911 caller, they've got a plan for that. For the low, low, low price of just $48 per year, you can call 911 as many times as you want. Yes, that's right folks, there's a special deal for those of you who regularly have emergencies. Make sure to order now!

This has to be one of the more ridiculous things I've heard in a while. Does the town really want to discourage people from calling in the event of an emergency? In my life, I think I've called 911 four times -- and three of those were after witnessing car crashes by other people. With this rule in place, I would have much less incentive to call to get the police if I witness something bad happening, whether it's a car crash, or someone getting mugged. 911 is a public service. You shouldn't have to pay for a 911 call.

Update: As pointed out in the comments, there may be more to this story, and the CBS link above might not be that accurate. Another report notes that the $300 will only apply to cases where the fire department needs to respond to medical emergencies. Still seems a bit questionable, but not as bad...

Filed Under: 911, fees, tracy

Washington Post Learns The Importance Of Fact Checking... And Reading The Comments

from the keep-up dept

On November 26th (Thanksgiving), the Washington Post put up an article about the group Public Enemy and its efforts to help the homeless in DC. Nice enough. However, there was one oddity in the article. It claimed that the band's famous song 911 is a Joke was about the attacks of September 11th. Yes, this is a song that was released in 1990. And if you've ever heard it, you know that it's about the phone number you call for emergencies. I mean the first line of the song is "I dialed 911 a long time ago....".

Now, I guess this is a mistake that anyone could make if they were totally unfamiliar with Public Enemy or its music -- but you would think that someone writing an article about the band would at least learn a little about the music it released. Furthermore, we're constantly told about how the mainstream press is important because they have fact checkers. Apparently, they took Thanksgiving off.

But, a bigger point is brought forth by Mathew Ingram who points out that people in the comments of the article pointed out the mistake really quickly and it took an entire week for the Washington Post to get around to making a correction.

Now, everyone makes mistakes now and again, and there's nothing wrong with that, but it does demonstrate a few things. Just claiming you have fact checkers doesn't make you significantly more accurate at times. Separately, we've pointed out in the past how bad newspapers seem to be with actually engaging with commenters on their site, and this highlights why they're making a big mistake. Yes, it's work. Yes, sometimes there can be a lot of junk in the comments, but you can also learn a lot -- such as when you've made a huge mistake.

Filed Under: 911, comments, fact checking, public enemy
Companies: washington post