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Councilman claims he was badgered during 911 call
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At-large Councilman David Catania says he was badgered when he made a 911 call.
At 1:15 a.m. Friday, At-large Councilman David Catania was awakened by the muffled screams of a woman "pleading for her life," he said. Admittedly disoriented, he grabbed his phone and called 911, he said, and was confronted by a woman who "loved her words more than her mission" and spoke in a "textbook badgering style." At one point he claimed the woman asked if he was drunk.
"I was so off put it made it more difficult to collect my thoughts," Catania said during an oversight hearing of the Office of Unified Communications. "All the while a woman is screaming bloody murder 100 feet from my front door."
Janice Quintana, director of the office, said she listened to the tape and described Catania as "frantic."
"She was trying to ascertain information and she was trying to calm you down," Quintana said. "You gave an address and I couldn't hear."
To which Catania responded: "We cannot have people like this employed by this government."
Catania's neighbors called 911 as well and police responded quickly, the councilman said.
Roughly 1,000 calls a week to D.C.'s call center are being monitored for quality, Quintana told the public safety panel, chaired by Councilman Phil Mendelson. But council members said they hear the same complaints over and over - of police who don't show up, of call takers who are rude and ask too many questions, and of phones that are never answered.
"People constantly say they call 911 and an officer either doesn't respond or an officer responds late," said Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans. "Somewhere the system is still not working even after all the money we've put into this."
The call center handled 2.5 million calls in fiscal 2007 to 911, 311 and 727-1000. Quintana could not say what percentage of the monitored calls are poorly handled, but employees have been taken off the phones for training or disciplinary action.
"They really know that their job is serious and there are repercussions," Quintana said of her staff.
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8:55 PM MST on Wed., May. 7, 2008 re: "Councilman claims he was badgered during 911 call"
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Examiner Reader said:
This Councilman warps the truth all the time to get his name in the paper. I heard the tape during a hearing on this and it's not as he claims.
0 agree | 1 disagree
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Melinda Thompson said:
I invite all of you who have left negative comments here to spend one hour, JUST ONE HOUR, under a headset in a 911 communications center and then read this story again. I can assure you that 911 dispatchers don't get paid enough to be "in it for the money." And as far as the poor pitiful councilman who was badgered - politicians and government officials make the worst callers. They assume that because they have their position, they can immediately change policies and standard operating procedures of the 911 system so that it suits their immediate needs. Dispatchers have a job to do, and that is to obtain information to provide to their responders so that their responders are fully prepared for the situation at hand. Hopefully, you wouldn't allow your child to go into a house that you've never visited, you don't know the people there, and you have no idea where it is. Well, we don't send our officers to dangerous calls without first getting as much info as possible.
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Examiner Reader said:
When Councilmember Evans stated that the center has fallen worst than they were two years ago, is a slap in the face to the new agency. Since the inception of this new agency each director with little or no public safety experience has caused more harm to the safety of the District constituents than when they were under the perspective agencies of MPD and FEMS.
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Examiner Reader said:
Imagine your child is sick. Imagine your hospital is run by the DC 911 dispatchers. That's what Democrats want to do to you, with national health care.
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Harry Schell said:
This is exactly why residents in DC need firearms to protect themselves. The 911 system cares only for itself, not its mission. In that case, reliance on police to protect you is even that much worse a bet that it is if they cared. Government indifference to getting a job done well is endemic. why anyone would give up their healthcare or anything more to a government agency is unbelievable, unless they think they can get something for nothing. And then they will get what they pay for, with no hope of recovering their past freedom.
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Carl in Chicago said:
Well, councilman David Catania, did it every occur to you to grab your trigger-lock-bound shotgun, take the two minutes to open the lock, and then go outside and be a responsible frigging citizen? A councilmember, of all people! More angry at the dispatcher than at the criminal outside your door? You're outraged to have been badgered while some woman screamed "bloody murder" ouside your door? Oh the horror you must have felt! You are absolutely right...."[they] cannot have people like [you] employed by this government." Do you support DC's futile attempt to save their handgun and functional firearm ban, and render all law-abiding DC citizens as helpless and ineffective as you and that poor woman outside your door?
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Examiner Reader said:
Any body else besides me care what happened to the woman? If the good councilman had had the right to possess a firearm he could have possibly saved a life.
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Examiner Reader said:
Flava-flav once said, "911 is a joke" they don't care 'cause they state paid anyway lose an arm or leg to them it's consolation
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Joe Jena said:
This is what happens when everyone is special and can't be criticized. And everyone knows it. Start firing the managers and supervisors and the employees will get the message. At least for awhile.
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Sierra Foxtrot said:
This is very true. The DC MPD/FD dispatchers are probably the worst I'll incountered. As a Communitions Special's when I worked in DC and had to call them for anything they were totally clueless. They haven't the first idea how the job works. They know nothing. They have no idea where anything is and are not interested in listening when you try to tell them something. After all this time it does not surprise me that they haven't changed a bit. I've been out of DC since 1999 and they are still incompetent. No a surprise. They are still in line with the rest of the city. The whole place is a disgrace. This is not the pubic's fault. It is the whole government of the city. They are just there for the money. They have no interest in learning how to do the job.
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