When do you call 911...?

[LeilaniOtter]

We were watching a creepy and disturbing movie last night called "Pontypool", about a radio broadcasting station reporting on a zombie apocalypse, It's a must-watch for slow-burners. Anyway, the question came up in the movie, "When do you call 911? What is an emergency to you?"

Now, let's try for some serious answers here. Here are some of mine:

I witness a car accident or drive past one that just occurred.
Shots fired in my neighborhood. (An all-too-often occurrence, sadly)
An urgent health issue at home.
Unusual smoke nearby.
A break-in (or attempted) to our home.
Someone has fallen outside.

I know there must be others but it's surprising how much more I feel the need to call 911 to help someone else, rather than just me. ?

I hope I'm not alone in that.

 

[Hoshino]

Notice: What a random thing to ask-nya.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

911 is to only be called when someone is for certain dying, giving birth, and/or already dead(always within self defense laws for the state) because it is too expensive to deal with ambulance fees and disposing of a dead body instead of calling law enforcement is illegal. That was what my step-dad who worked for first responders would tell me as a kid.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

You call it when you think there is an emergency or something extremely suspicious. As long as it is a legit concern that would fall in the domain of police, fire or ambulance services, you won't get in trouble for calling.

911 is to only be called when someone is for certain dying, giving birth, and/or already dead(always within self defense laws for the state) because it is too expensive to deal with ambulance fees and disposing of a dead body instead of calling law enforcement is illegal. That was what my step-dad who worked for first responders would tell me as a kid.

Ii think your dad just didnt want you calling it as a prank. Ofcourse your 911 might be different from my 911 ...different country I am assuming

 

[LeilaniOtter]

911 is to only be called when someone is for certain dying, giving birth, and/or already dead(always within self defense laws for the state) because it is too expensive to deal with ambulance fees and disposing of a dead body instead of calling law enforcement is illegal. That was what my step-dad who worked for first responders would tell me as a kid.

I just think your dad echoed the sentiment of first responders all over the world. More often than not, they'd probably get sent out on wild goose chases or paltry "emergency" cases. People call 911 if they're too drunk to drive, for example.

But, look at something else, okay? Your father told you something extremely wrong and harmful. An emergency doesn't need to be something that's already happened. I'm calling 911 if i see unusual smoke because someone could be trapped in a fire, or I call 911 if I drive past a wrecked car because I fear someone's hurt. It's not wrong to care about what COULD happen, I guess is what I mean. Because you can still save lives.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I just think your dad echoed the sentiment of first responders all over the world. More often than not, they'd probably get sent out on wild goose chases or paltry "emergency" cases. People call 911 if they're too drunk to drive, for example.

But, look at something else, okay? Your father told you something extremely wrong and harmful. An emergency doesn't need to be something that's already happened. I'm calling 911 if i see unusual smoke because someone could be trapped in a fire, or I call 911 if I drive past a wrecked car because I fear someone's hurt. It's not wrong to care about what COULD happen, I guess is what I mean. Because you can still save lives.

He would cry at dinner every time he would come home having failed to talk someone out of suicide. He knew it wasn't just for things that already happened and that he actively had to try to prevent things before they could happen. That is just what he expressed to me as a child.

You call it when you think there is an emergency or something extremely suspicious. As long as it is a legit concern that would fall in the domain of police, fire or ambulance services, you won't get in trouble for calling.

Ii think your dad just didnt want you calling it as a prank. Ofcourse your 911 might be different from my 911 ...different country I am assuming

Perhaps. Also, I am American.

 

[Empress_Omnii]

I don’t live somewhere with absurd ambulance and medical costs...

So whenever someone is collapsed, having a seizure, heart attack... and so on. Calling is good when people have no way to transport them or need to know how to keep them safe until a medical professional arrives.

I've had to also call emergency services for a missing person due to them being in possible immediate danger. Additionally when someone is being assaulted, you're supposed to call emergency services. But you could also just punch the instigator...

And unless a house was clearly burning down, I wouldn't call a fire department... or a cat needs help out of a tree.

 

[Gray_Mann]

Where I grew up, we were discouraged from calling law enforcement of any kind for any reason. Also, on several occasions when they were called, they never showed up but if they did, they arrived in force, no less than 3 or 4 vehicles, usually 2 suits to a vehicle. I can remember an ambulance arriving an hour after the call just to clean the corpses up with no presence from authorities at all.

But then, I grew up in a special place.

 

[LeilaniOtter]

I don’t live somewhere with absurd ambulance and medical costs...

So whenever someone is collapsed, having a seizure, heart attack... and so on. Calling is good when people have no way to transport them or need to know how to keep them safe until a medical professional arrives.

I've had to also call emergency services for a missing person due to them being in possible immediate danger. Additionally when someone is being assaulted, you're supposed to call emergency services. But you could also just punch the instigator...

And unless a house was clearly burning down, I wouldn't call a fire department... or a cat needs help out of a tree.

I didn't even think about that. Of course, I'd call 911 for a missing person and demand a welfare check.

Where I grew up, we were discouraged from calling law enforcement of any kind for any reason. Also, on several occasions when they were called, they never showed up but if they did, they arrived in force, no less than 3 or 4 vehicles, usually 2 suits to a vehicle. I can remember an ambulance arriving an hour after the call just to clean the corpses up with no presence from authorities at all.

But then, I grew up in a special place.

I was taught really early to rely on and trust police, fire and rescue to be saviors. Of course, I'm much older and wiser now. I know it's a myth.

 

[Tempokai]

From Post Soviet Union country here. The emergency to call 112 is basically "oh shit, someone's dying/badly hurt, it's on fire, someone broke into my house and stole stuff/got into a car accident and evaluation is needed. Medics and firefighters are great, because the government subsidizes them/people subsidize by paying cheap insurance, but police is corrupt in usual petty way, so they're called the last always for processing papers lmao. Police in particular are more free, so they do raids and so on more, ordinary citizen doesn't see them unless they really fucked something up. I'd say for me "emergency call" starts at "someone's injured and can't go to hospital" for medical, "someone's dead" for police.

 

[LeilaniOtter]

From Post Soviet Union country here. The emergency to call 112 is basically "oh shit, someone's dying/badly hurt, it's on fire, someone broke into my house and stole stuff/got into a car accident and evaluation is needed. Medics and firefighters are great, because the government subsidizes them/people subsidize by paying cheap insurance, but police is corrupt in usual petty way, so they're called the last always for processing papers lmao. Police in particular are more free, so they do raids and so on more, ordinary citizen doesn't see them unless they really fucked something up. I'd say for me "emergency call" starts at "someone's injured and can't go to hospital" for medical, "someone's dead" for police.

Police are pretty corrupt wherever you are, in whatever country you're in.
I blame the paramilitary reassignment of their mental capacities.
Once we treated police like an army, this was a broken system, no doubt about it.

 

[Arkus86]

because it is too expensive to deal with ambulance fees

How glad I am to live in a country with decent public healthcare, where ambulance is covered by health insurance.
It's not wrong to call the emergency services whenever you even suspect some sort of danger to yourself or others.

From Post Soviet Union country here. The emergency to call 112 is basically "oh shit, someone's dying/badly hurt, it's on fire, someone broke into my house and stole stuff/got into a car accident and evaluation is needed. Medics and firefighters are great, because the government subsidizes them/people subsidize by paying cheap insurance, but police is corrupt in usual petty way, so they're called the last always for processing papers lmao. Police in particular are more free, so they do raids and so on more, ordinary citizen doesn't see them unless they really fucked something up. I'd say for me "emergency call" starts at "someone's injured and can't go to hospital" for medical, "someone's dead" for police.

Fortunately I do not have that experience in my post-soviet country. It seems at least the state police does their job reasonably competently. As opposed to the municipal police, who more often seem to prefer to do as little as possible (in my town in particular, if they don't have to respond to a call, it's a rare sight to see one outside the city centre, where they are too busy giving out parking tickets and hanging out in the comfort of their station to care about anything else).

 

[RepresentingDesire]

When some is dying or needs medical attention but is unable to be transported by the people around.

 

[SRB]

When I'm already stabbed, because otherwise no one's coming.

 

[Eldoria]

Of course, I'd call 911 (or some similar emergency number) when I saw a man looking at a little girl with sparkling eyes. Well, this is just a joke.

In reality, I'd almost never call 911. Not only is it wrong to misuse the emergency number, but the police in my country are often corrupt. You might lose an apartment's worth of money for a stolen smartphone.

This isn't just a gimmick. I once reported my laptop stolen, but the police didn't take it seriously and said if you don't want the hassle, it's better to just let it go.

Even my own parents taught me not to marry a policeman because they know how corrupt the police are.

And by the way, the police say corruption is the work of individuals, but the reality is that police corruption is institutionalised and an open secret.