"This Is the Grandpa"

One of the nifty little features of the 9-1-1 system is that you don’t have to dial 9-1-1 to be connected to an emergency dispatcher. If you just dial random numbers eventually it will ring through to 9-1-1. I’m sure the architects of the system envisioned the farmer that had both arms ripped off in a combine, and his only hope to dial for help rests on his ability to accurately dial a number with nothing but two bloody stumps. (Too graphic?)

Unfortunately for those of us manning the front lines of this system, a small child's overwhelming fascination with a device that makes noises when you push buttons is much more likely than the plea for help from a double-amputee farmer. Thousands if not tens of thousands of calls were placed to the center every year by small children. Initially our practice was to try to ascertain if there was an emergency. If it sounded like trouble, or there was a level of uncertainty, officers were dispatched. If everything sounded fine, the calltaker could clear out the call with no action taken. As a 9-1-1 drop was classified as a priority 1 call, sending very many of these to the Ogden radio dispatcher was a quick way to become the most hated person in the room. Trying to clear a board full of calls in Ogden was hard enough without someone piling on extras. There was a strong motivation to try to vet these calls very closely.

So my good friend K* L* picks up one of these lines and it becomes immediately apparent that it is a child on the phone. There is a myth that small children make excellent 9-1-1 callers, and there are times when the young ones do an excellent job, but most of the time trying to get answers out of a small child is like herding cats.

“Is your mom home?” asked K*. 

This was usually a great question. If the child had any experience with attending telephone calls, this should trigger a conditioned response that would connect an adult who could verify the lack of an emergency in the home. Unfortunately in the case of a child knowingly doing something wrong, it also conditioned a “hide the evidence” response.

“My mom’s not home,” came back a very guarded reply from a young girl that was in the 5-6 year-old range.

“How about your dad – is he home?”

“Nope.”

“Maybe a babysitter?”

“No.”

This child caller was not going to be forthright with information, but there was a real possibility that she had been left home alone. This would trigger a police response on a child neglect type call.

“Well is there anyone home with you?” K* asked.

“Just my grandpa,” she answered.

“Oh – well can I talk to your grandpa?” There was hope of vetting this call after all.

The young lady put the phone down momentarily, then picked it back up and summoning her gruffest voice possible answered, “This is the grandpa.”