I almost hate to say this, but in watching UM and other true crime shows, I find that a good chunk of 911 operators tend to irritate the hell out of me. I mean, there is a life or death situation going on, and they let precious moments lapse by because they either a) keep repeating everything the caller says, b) asking questions they've already been given the answers to, c) or some combination of the two. There are even times when the operators don't seem to believe the caller. I can't recall an example off the top of my head, but it just seems I hear a lot of "What do you mean..." by that type questions. Anyone else also feelin' this?

To end this post on a more positive note, one 911 operator I *did* like was the Antoinette Cayedito one. She was calm, asked pertinent questions: "Whereabouts in Albuquerque?" and just generally seemed to have hear head on straight. I also got the feeling she was familiar with the case beforehand, which helped in this situation.

I've noticed this too. And they almost seemed annoyed at the callers. Like as if the caller is a child asking for another cookie when they've already had too many.

They're begging for their life, and the 911 Operators have this attitude like "calm down already, we'll get there when we get there".

I understand that 911 operators are trained to remain calm and that them panicking will not help; however, I have heard about some downright negligent operators who have caused deaths. Of course, it's a high-stress job and many operators are fantastic. There are just some bad apples who really need to be reprimanded. Here's an article I read some time ago about the subject.

http://www.rd.com/health/wellness/911-calls-gone-tragically-wrong/

It's Reader's Digest, but it does have some really sad examples about the operators who are bad apples, as well as the reminder that callers to 911 cause problems, too. I would never try to do the job myself and know I do not know the meticulous details about what the job requires. But the mistakes by subjects in that article are absolutely horrendous.

@Scary Fog: You read my mind. Cool user name, btw.

Case in point...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/07/transcript-missing-woman-amanda-berry-11-call-after-escaping-alleged-abducter/

Case in point...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/07/transcript-missing-woman-amanda-berry-11-call-after-escaping-alleged-abducter/

That dispatcher seems to have done their job pretty well, IMO. She got police on the way as soon as Amanda Berry said she needed police.

That dispatcher seems to have done their job pretty well, IMO. She got police on the way as soon as Amanda Berry said she needed police.

Just sounded snotty to Amanda.

Just sounded snotty to Amanda.

The dispatch probably didn't recognize her name offhand. I'm sure dispatchers get their fair share of pranks or non-emergency calls to 911, which is why they have to question the person calling extensively.

Meh... Listening to the Call online the 911 Dispatcher seemed to think it might be a joke. when he told the Police Officer about it the tone seemed like "just another call to push through". Sure he could've been nicer but put yourself in his Shoes. Think of how many Prank calls are put through. The call itself sounds so surreal.

Watching the show "I Survived" always has the worse 911 Dispatchers. One episode had a poor woman who was stuffed in a Trashcan filled with Snow by her Husband. She could barely talk and the Operator said "Well then how are you calling me??" Sadly the Dispatcher was very rude and snippy with her. the majority of the Dispatchers on that show always sound bored, annoyed, or indifferent.

Case in point...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/07/transcript-missing-woman-amanda-berry-11-call-after-escaping-alleged-abducter/

I heard the call last night and figured this thread might be about it. I understand that the operators have to remain calm and get as many details as possible, but she just sounded downright mean to me.

Just sounded snotty to Amanda.
I know. But then again, over the past 10 years, there have been plenty of hoaxes as far as those girls are concerned. Just over this past summer (July 2012), there was a major one concerning Amanda. Maybe the operator was thinking, "Yeah, SURE you're Amanda Berry, and I'm the Queen of England".

Here's the hoax involving Amanda from this past summer in case some of you hadn't heard about it:

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/cleveland_metro/ohio-inmate-robert-wolford-gets-4-years-in-false-amanda-berry-search-tip

Watching the show "I Survived" always has the worse 911 Dispatchers. One episode had a poor woman who was stuffed in a Trashcan filled with Snow by her Husband. She could barely talk and the Operator said "Well then how are you calling me??" Sadly the Dispatcher was very rude and snippy with her. the majority of the Dispatchers on that show always sound bored, annoyed, or indifferent.I remember that one, and it really annoyed me. Either she's telling the truth and she's dying or she made up the most elaborate and ridiculous lie for no reason. I mean, come on. She even sounded like she was dying.

The 911 operator that Antoinette Cayeito had came off as rude to me..

It's a lot easier to be critical of these people when compared to actually doing their jobs. I'm sure they are trained to ask the same questions over and over again to make sure they get the correct info to the right people. They also have to remain calm for the caller in a life or death situation. Remember they can't see what we see on tv as it is happening live. We are looking back and are judging them. Rescue 911 is one of my fav shows and I'm constantly yelling at the operator to hurry up lol even when I know what will happen and they did not at the time.

This case wasn't profiled on UM, but there was a double homicide in Montana last year which I fully expect to make the rounds on all the true crime shows. Essentially: Man decides to divorce his wife of 20+ years. He files for divorce and changes the locks on his doors (he and his wife had already been separated for some time prior to his filing for divorce). THE DAY AFTER the wife was served with the divorce papers, she obtained a key to his home (through the landlord, who the husband forgot to tell that he was divorcing her), lets herself in, sits in the living room for FOUR HOURS, and then shoots her husband multiple times. He survived the initial shooting, while his girlfriend goes fleeing through the apartment. The girlfriend calls 911 and states that her boyfriend has been shot and the shooter is after her next. The shooter tracks the girlfriend down (all this on the 911 call) and says "You stole my husband," etc. before shooting the girlfriend.

THEN... the wife calls 911 and tries to frame the whole thing on the girlfriend. The 911 dispatcher has already got the whole thing figured out in her head and asks the caller, "Do you have a gun in your hand?"

Police had already been dispatched and were treating the call like the girlfriend was the shooter, not the wife. The 911 dispatcher was trying to tell them that it was actually THE WIFE who was the shooter. In the chaos, the girlfriend bled to death. The husband died of his injuries about an hour or so later.

I understand that several of these folks may sound bored. Long story short, I think this 911 operator was very helpful in ensuring that this cold-blooded killer went to prison for the rest of her life.

The 911 operator that Antoinette Cayeito had came off as rude to me..

how so?

I heard the call last night and figured this thread might be about it. I understand that the operators have to remain calm and get as many details as possible, but she just sounded downright mean to me.

A few hours after I posted this, I turned on CNN and there was some discussion about the 911 operator in the Amanda Berry, etc case getting criticized and I thought that was pretty weird timing. But I've felt this way for a while and the timing of it was just a coincidence.

I think we usually only get to hear the 911 calls where the operator was really bad, incompetent, rude, etc, because that makes for more "interesting" news.

I do remember hearing about a few cases over the years where victims who called 911 were so grateful for the helpful person who took their call that they've asked to meet them and thank them in person. :)

Holy canoli, check out this:

I was watching Disappeared yesterday, and one of the cases was the Terrance Williams/Filipe Santos one where police officer Steve Calkins was suspected in both of their disappearances. http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/williams_terrance.html

Terrance's mother had been calling the police station and such in an attempt to find her missing son. It had been learned that Calkins pulled Terrance over and that was the last confirmed sighting of Terrance. The police wanted to question Calkins about it, here is the exchange between 911 dispatch and Steve Calkins:

Dispatch: "Steve?"

Steve: "Yeah?"

Dispatch: "I hate to bother you on your day off, but this woman has been bothering us all day."

Steve: (laughs)

Dispatch: "You towed a car from Vanderbilt and 100, 111th, Monday, a Cadillac, do you remember it?"

Steve: "uhhh no."

Dispatch: "do you remember, she said it was near the cemetery?"

Steve: "cemetery?"

Dispatch: "The people at the cemetery are tellin' her you put somebody in the back of your vehicle and arrested them, and I don't show you arresting anybody"

Steve: "I never arrested nobody"

Dispatch: "that's what I thought."

HOLY CRAP!! Terrance's mother is trying to find her missing son and 911 dispatch states that they are bothering them? Where does that 911 dispatcher get off? And being that numerous people at the cemetery witnessed Calkins putting Terrance in the back of his vehicle and he's still missing, that should have raised red flags for the dispatch lady, but when Calkins says "I never arrested nobody", she says "that's what I thought."
Uf!

But if that isn't enough, check out this conversation between Calkins and another police officer when Calkins called to have Terrance's Cadillac towed.

Dispatch: "what you doin' sucka?"

Steve: "Well I got a 'homie' Cadillac on the side of the road here, signal 11, signal 52, nobody around."

Dispatch: (in an upbeat tone) "all right!"

Steve: "The tags come back to nothin', it's an old white piece of junk Cadillac."

Dispatch: "Blockin' roadway?"

Steve: "I'm towin' it."

Dispatch: "You tow it baby, give me the VIN number."

Steve: "Maybe he's out there in the cemetery. He'll come back and his car will be gone." (laughs)

Dispatch: "Yeah, really. Mr. No Registration."

Steve: "Well he was blockin' the road, about an inch off the road, you know?"

WOW! The thing was, Steve Calkins had moved the vehicle so that it was blocking the roadway and lied about it.

Unreal. I think both of those 911 operators should be fired and I think they should start monitoring 911 calls with great frequency.

He calls it a "homie" cadillac? During an official call? I think those dispatch/cop conversation would probably have gone out over the public scanner. Wonder if any citizens heard that lovely exchange. Certainly wouldn't make me have any confidence in my local police.

Signal 11 usually means an abandoned vehicle, which seems to be what he's referring to here, but then he says that the guy might be visiting the cemetery and jokes about him coming back to find his car gone. That's not an abandoned car that should be towed. And it was blocking the roadway because it was parked an inch off the road?

The guy's a dirty cop, and piece of crap as a human being, imo.


ETA: and when the cop tells dispatch that no one is around, why does the dispatcher have such a happy response about that? Do they get to share some kind of commission (bribe) from the tow company?