What's the delay with 911?

So what's the deal with our county 911 center? I know many people who live within a few miles of city limits that don't even have 911 street addresses yet. Its been like 15 years that I have been paying those 911 fees on all our cell phones and landlines! I realize Mercer County has rural areas, but really, 15 YEARS??? What has all my money gone to anyway? When 911 was originally proposed, the system was supposed to be computerized so that when your phone # called in, a map and directions to your address were available. Now this isn't the case. It took the State Police an hour to find my house, which is just past WALMART (who doesn't know where that is!) because 911 gave him the wrong directions! I have also had several bad experiences with 911 operators. Some of them are very rude, and one even hung up on me! The State Trooper suggested to ALWAYS ask their name, before even telling them the purpose of the call. He said he has heard many similar complaints. I am interested to know if others have had such problems.

another sad tiger fan wrote:

So what's the deal with our county 911 center? I know many people who live within a few miles of city limits that don't even have 911 street addresses yet. Its been like 15 years that I have been paying those 911 fees on all our cell phones and landlines! I realize Mercer County has rural areas, but really, 15 YEARS??? What has all my money gone to anyway? When 911 was originally proposed, the system was supposed to be computerized so that when your phone # called in, a map and directions to your address were available. Now this isn't the case. It took the State Police an hour to find my house, which is just past WALMART (who doesn't know where that is!) because 911 gave him the wrong directions! I have also had several bad experiences with 911 operators. Some of them are very rude, and one even hung up on me! The State Trooper suggested to ALWAYS ask their name, before even telling them the purpose of the call. He said he has heard many similar complaints. I am interested to know if others have had such problems.

mercer county 911 is a joke....they are very rude and incompetent...

Listen Our county 911 center is a joke !!!! I happen to work in this county and have to deal with this Dispatch center on a regular basis. The people in this county are blind and under a false sense of security when it comes to our 911 center. I could set at this computer and type all night long telling story after story about countless times I personaly have responded to calls within this county and had to deal with smart ass dispatchers who couldn't tell you Mercer St. from US rt 460. I do have to say this counties 911 center in very under staffed. You can blame that on these stupid county commissioners that all of you keep voteing into office. That is a whole other story that I will save for another time.The fact of the matter is until you need the services of Fire Police or Ems you would know how bad it really is. I just hope and pray that its not my family that ever needs to call or use the services of the 911 center because I can promise you that if they screw it up and delay care to my family there will be Hell to pay.

I have been told that some of the equipment is the same stuff that was put in there when the center went online. So much has changed since then, why do they have to use such old equipment. I dont even think all of it works.

I was told the major problem is that the dispatchers think they can decide to which calls they should dispatch; their job is NOT to DECIDE WHEN to dispatch; their job is to DISPATCH WHEN they get a call.

You have hit the nail on the head guys. The equipment is out dated, and the dispatchers should dispatch that is their job. But instead they sit up on that hill on their cell phones talking to their buddys or playing on a computer. I take my job very serious, If i fool around and goof off people die! Thats just the fact The responders in this county do a hell of a job protecting all the people in this county if it be Fire police or Ems we should not have to second guess the very people that send us out on some of these calls but we have to each and every day.

I am an employee at 911 and would like to point out that unless you have done our job you cannot begin to understand how to handle a caller or a situation. As a rule we always ask for directions to a location and then restate those directions verbatim to the responding agency. If the directions we are given are not correct then the response time decreases and the aid you need takes longer to get there.

Also, we do not have the resources in the county to dispatch an officer to all calls. Would you like to have your loved one being assaulted and there is no officer available to come to their aid because we dispatched an officer on a loud noise complaint?

****BY THE WAY THERE IS NO ENFORCEABLE NOISE ORDINANCE IN THE COUNTY****

We do the best we can with the resources available.

Listen WTF, Unless you have done our job responding to calls out in this county you have no idea what we go through!!! It's not as bad now but up until Hoge fired one certian person on your day shift all we got was a smart a*# answer any time we needed better directions. Is that what you guys are trained to do? I would hope not.You all should be required to ride along with the responders of this county for a month or so that way you might have a clue what we deal with. Its bad enough that we have to deal with the public when they are out here raising hell but then to have to deal with you all smarting off to the mouth, LOL I'll tell you sometimes the money we get paid it's not worth it!! sorry to upset your apple cart but facts are facts

Oh and by the way I have been dispatched to calls on Princeton Ave. here in Princeton that ended up on Princeton Ave. in Bluefield explain that. Oh I guess the caller was confused as to what city they lived in LOL You all are a joke! How do you explain that to a family that is in need of a ambulance because a family member stopped breathing. Or a house is on fire and people are trapped, Hard to explain, but we've had to do it!!! DO YOUR JOBS PEOPLE

WTF wrote:

I am an employee at 911 and would like to point out that unless you have done our job you cannot begin to understand how to handle a caller or a situation. As a rule we always ask for directions to a location and then restate those directions verbatim to the responding agency. If the directions we are given are not correct then the response time decreases and the aid you need takes longer to get there.
Also, we do not have the resources in the county to dispatch an officer to all calls. Would you like to have your loved one being assaulted and there is no officer available to come to their aid because we dispatched an officer on a loud noise complaint?
****BY THE WAY THERE IS NO ENFORCEABLE NOISE ORDINANCE IN THE COUNTY****
We do the best we can with the resources available.

Are you saying that due to limited resources it IS your job to decide which calls get responders? Why wouldn't that be determined by the responding agency?

IAFF466 wrote:

Listen WTF, Unless you have done our job responding to calls out in this county you have no idea what we go through!!! It's not as bad now but up until Hoge fired one certian person on your day shift all we got was a smart a*# answer any time we needed better directions. Is that what you guys are trained to do? I would hope not.You all should be required to ride along with the responders of this county for a month or so that way you might have a clue what we deal with. Its bad enough that we have to deal with the public when they are out here raising hell but then to have to deal with you all smarting off to the mouth, LOL I'll tell you sometimes the money we get paid it's not worth it!! sorry to upset your apple cart but facts are facts

Have you ever sit in with them? I thought that they did do ride-a-longs.
Also if the person was fired at 911 why are you still upset. just wondering...

At one time it was talked about doing a exchange program or ride along program between all agencies. I don't think it ever was put in effect I will agree it should be required for all parties.I'M upset because the people in this county pay for a service that is sub-standard. I don't know about you but if I pay for something and at some point I need to use that service I want it to work for me. I don't expect the very person I call to get me help to hang up!

IAFF466 wrote:

At one time it was talked about doing a exchange program or ride along program between all agencies. I don't think it ever was put in effect I will agree it should be required for all parties.I'M upset because the people in this county pay for a service that is sub-standard. I don't know about you but if I pay for something and at some point I need to use that service I want it to work for me. I don't expect the very person I call to get me help to hang up!

To start off with, apparently you dont know exactly what you are talking about because there is a ride along program that we do. Each dispatcher is required to do a ride along with each one of the agencies that allow ride alongs within our county. AS the previous dispatcher stated, we can only give you guys the information that is given to us. They forgot to issue us our crystal balls when we started. also for your information, 90% of the calls that are received within our 911 center are made from cell phones. And half the individuals that call compliaints in, dont know the name of the road that they are even on. You say that all you get is sarcasm from the dispatchers up here, have you considered the tones that you guys use when you radio to us for information. The thing is that most individuals that work up here and work within a police, fire, or ems agency within the county understand how difficult it is to get completely accurate information from someone that is in a panic due to an emergency. The Princeton Avenue issue that you mentioned previously could have easily been avoided if there wasn't two Princeton Avenues within Mercer co. Is it the dispatchers fault that there is a duplicated street name within the same county. Before anyone goes around pointing figures, they need to step back and evaluate their own actions toward others before they lash out. Your more than welcome to come and sit in on one of our shifts and see how things are actually are up here on the hill. Next time you are on the radio, show some respect and maybe you will get alittle.

For your consideration... For every bad experience that you may have with the personnel at 911 there are several good experiences that have been logged.

For every time that you have been sent to a wrong address or dispatched with poor directions, how many times have you had good directions?

And did you ever think that perhaps a law enforcement officer was dispatched but that your call was a low priority and they made the decision to postpone responding? Calls are typically dispatched in minutes or less.

We do the best that we can with what we are given. As I am sure that you do the best you can with what is given to you.

If you have an issue with someone or something the responsible action is to discuss the situation and come to a resolution with the input of all parties involved. IAFF466 if you have an issue bring it up with your Chief or with the 911 personnel.

Getting on a public message board and ranting will not solve your problem but may inflame it. Try to be responsible and work out your issue.

"Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone" John 8:7

IAFF466 wrote:

Oh and by the way I have been dispatched to calls on Princeton Ave. here in Princeton that ended up on Princeton Ave. in Bluefield explain that. Oh I guess the caller was confused as to what city they lived in LOL You all are a joke! How do you explain that to a family that is in need of a ambulance because a family member stopped breathing. Or a house is on fire and people are trapped, Hard to explain, but we've had to do it!!! DO YOUR JOBS PEOPLE

Wouldn't you have rather have been dispatched and not needed than not dispatched and needed?

OK I have touched a nerve and thats ok. I know that the cell phone issue is a problem.....But let me ask this...... Is our 911 center ENHANCED? And if not should it be? Correct me if I'm wrong but does the 911 center approve street addresses and or change them if need be? If so then should they allow two streets to use the same name? I'm not casting stones here but facts are facts It seems to me that some of the very issues you have chosen to throw back at me are issues that your center has the power to change. Is that not a fair statment? I know most of you all do a good job at what you do but come on to hang up on a caller....... Is that professional? To HOGES HERO I have neveer smarted off over the radio to one of your dispatchers. At my job we were told not to fall to that level or we would be punished. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this issue but that still does not change the fact that this counties 911 center needs a overhaul starting at the top.

I am a Vol. Firefighter and the directions we get are never right or is anything else once we get there. Just like mutual Aid when there is a fire 911 should page 2 depts but that never happens until you ask them to. or when there is a wreck they only page you out when they think it is bad. They should page out fire to any wreck that EMT's are called to. What it comes down to is they don't want to do the extra work by paging out everyone that is needed. and the digital radios are a JOKE when you talk on the 911 answers you on the old radios.

Mercer Dispatch is awful. I work for a county agency. actually a few county agencies and was requesting an ambulance via vhf radio and they denied me the ambulance. They refer to themselves as control and actually it is just plain DISPATCH!

yall need to do your f*** job.and stay off the INTERNET and page mutual aid when it is a fire and look at the map for once.YALL SUCK

WTF wrote:

I am an employee at 911 and would like to point out that unless you have done our job you cannot begin to understand how to handle a caller or a situation. As a rule we always ask for directions to a location and then restate those directions verbatim to the responding agency. If the directions we are given are not correct then the response time decreases and the aid you need takes longer to get there.
Also, we do not have the resources in the county to dispatch an officer to all calls. Would you like to have your loved one being assaulted and there is no officer available to come to their aid because we dispatched an officer on a loud noise complaint?
****BY THE WAY THERE IS NO ENFORCEABLE NOISE ORDINANCE IN THE COUNTY****
We do the best we can with the resources available.

The average useful life of 911 communications equipment is five years. Why is Mercer still using the equipment installed in 1994? Do they have anyone there capable of applying for grant monies to replace PC's and radios? The citizens of this county are being shortchanged by the 911 center not providing the correct and accepted methods of emergency dispatch. All communicators are supposed to be trained and certified--is this the case at our center?? The responders in Mercer county do an excellent job but are hindered by the substandard service provided by a center that needs to come into the 21st century with both modern equipment and competent personnel.