What do you think about how the 911 operator handled the call regarding the three kidnapped girls in Cleveland?

I think it is very easy to criticize someone after the fact. Too easy.

The 911 operator did what she was supposed to do: take the call, determine severity, and dispatch emergency personnel. She did that – the police were there 2 minutes later.

Anything else is monday morning quarterbacking – easy to do, but dishonest, because you and I were not there. We don’t have the whole story. For all we know, the Berry call was followed by two fire calls and a robbery call. Maybe the 911 number was ringing off the hook.

The 911 operator was doing triage, which is correct and proper. But again, we weren’t in the 911 office and we don’t have the whole story.

Every time I see that interview I have a new appreciation for it.

I also wonder if the guy with the black vest behind the guy being interviewed purposely turned around during the interview to show his gang “colors.” It seems he wanted viewers to see his gang vest and then he turned back toward the camera.

I know this is somewhat off-topic but it is in Social.

@elbanditoroso I am not saying she should be reprimanded or fired, but I think maybe it is worth evaluating how kidnapping calls or people in eminent danger should be handled. It isn’t unheard of for 911 operators to stay on the line. I even wrote maybe there was a back up of calls and it would be more important to get the next call.

The operator was not reassuring at all in her tone. She didn’t reassure Amanda that she understood time was of the essence.

My offhand impression of the 911 operator was similar to what you’re talking about. I found her to be kind of cold and a bit dimwitted.

But we also have little idea of how many hoax type of calls these folks have to field from the immature or attention seekers.

And maybe, after a time, they just get kind of burned out from all the life or death crises they handle day in and day out so they stick strictly to protocol and avoid emotional involvement.

Obviously she did her job well since the police were there within minutes. Are we now expecting 911 operators to become personally involved in each and every call?

I don’t necessarily know the answer to that Q nor how practical it would be to require that.

I do know that I seriously question whether I could take the strain of that type of job on an everyday basis. It must be emotionally exhausting.

She did say repeatedly the police are on the way. They’re not social workers. I know workers like that personally and believe me, they’re stressed, they’re busy, they’re dealing with multiple emergencies all at once. It’s not like a regular job, where you’re typing one thing and the boss says stop that and do this instead. It’s emergencies, life or death stuff, coming in like shots pow pow pow, and everything has a time limit and everything is recorded. Can’t second guess that.

I wonder if Amanda had been alone if she would have stayed on the line? The operator knew she was at the neighbor’s house.

The operator’s job is to get the police on their way. If she stays on the line with every caller, she’s unable to answer other calls and get the police to be on their way to other people.

@jca I mentioned that in my details. I think they can tell if there are waiting calls. I have called 911 two or three times and I have never been rushed off the phone.

These operators are taking call after call after call all day. It is a pretty demanding job and you can’t afford to get emotionally involved with the callers. They are all stressed when they call. This was a very unusual and newsworthy case and I don’t think the operator could be expected to realise its significance at the time. She did the right thing, took the details and got the police out there. What else could she have done? She is probably under pressure to keep call duration low to keep costs down.

I listened to the call on YouTube. It wasn’t necessarily what the operator said, or how long the phonecall lasted, but how she spoke. Amanda Berry sounded hysterical and desperate, and the dispatcher sounded cold and impatient. Right from the start, you could tell in her voice that she just couldn’t wait for the phonecall to end.

I don’t know how busy the 911 phone lines were that morning. If it’s not policy for her to stay on the line and she did what she was supposed to do, that’s all we can expect. She might have had people having heart attacks or shooting victims or whatever on the next call she took. Perhaps staying on the line with Amanda would have delayed her dealing with that next person’s crisis.

I emailed my friend who is a young 911 operator. She said ” i listened to a bit of it last night… he was just rude, very short, and didnt stay on the ph long… honestly dont think i would recognize a name of someone missing for 10 years and we hear so much crap and fake reporting that its hard to believe people sometimes, but our agency is a lot nicer”
I asked if there was a policy about staying on the phone until police arrive. She said “everyone has their own policies, but for us its up to the dispatcher”

She sounds like she was trained in a call center. It frustrated me how indifferent she was to the caller. She didn’t even get the man’s name when the woman told her twice. It was like a second thought to ask her again. “What did you say his name was?”

@Judi Thanks for asking your friend! I would not expect an operator to recognize a name either. It’s more about the tone in Amanda’s voice and the tone in the operators, which is what your friend said basically. I feel better now about being a little annoyed.