So Many Things

There are so many things wrong with the call I just made to the Greenwich Police NON-emergency dispatch, which you're told to call if you're not sure whether it's a real emergency.

I was woken up at 4:00 am by what sounded like someone laying on their car horn. Last month, a woman in my neighborhood did this very same thing to get away from her husband who was stabbing her with a screwdriver, so I didn't think it unreasonable to call.

So I call, and the male dispatcher was a total a-hole. I said I was calling because I knew that last month there was a strange domestic dispute that ended with a blaring car horn. He said, and I quote, "That wasn't a stabbing, ma'am. A man tripped over a fence." I said, "No, a man in my neighborhood stabbed his wife with a screwdriver. I don't make it a habit to call the police at 4 am for no good reason." He says, "Oh yeah, I do remember that."



There was definitely a loud alarm going off. He could hear it through the phone and he asks me, "Where is it coming from?" Um, I don't know, genius. That's why I'm calling you. He then proceeds to tell me it's "probably just a car alarm... I can hear it in the background."

#1.) I lived on a very busy street for a year. My bedroom was on top of street parking. I've heard my share of car alarms. None of them sound like a person laying on a horn.

#2.) Even if it WAS a car alarm, don't people have those things so the police will intervene if their car is being stolen?

#3.) What if it was a home invasion and it was a house alarm? That's the kind of response you want from the police department, especially a police department that has just handled a very serious domestic dispute case that happened 2 doors down from your house?!?

He did say they would "send a car over to check it out."



The car sped down the street and definitely didn't check anything out. Remind me to never get into a bad situation when that dispatcher is on duty.

Once again, I'm less than impressed. And wide awake.

-- Sent from my mobile device