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Old March 12, 2013, 01:28 AM   #1
justplainpossum
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If there was trouble and you needed help...

who would you call first? The police/sheriff, family/friends, or neighbors? Please also say if you live in the country, the city, or the suburbs.
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Old March 12, 2013, 01:34 AM   #2
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Old March 12, 2013, 02:42 AM   #3
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911/police, suburban city dweller here. I figure, if you have time to call someone, it should be the people who can scale the response to the situation as needed and are trained for such situations. Not just the police, but also the 911 operators getting as much and the appropriate information and who can also dispatch medical services if things go awry before police get there.
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Old March 12, 2013, 04:28 AM   #4
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If there was trouble and you needed help...

Call 911 regardless of where you live and tell them the problem they will send you the help you need.
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Old March 12, 2013, 05:15 AM   #5
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Call 911 and get them rolling. It's the one-stop, first-responder call and the one that will get the proper help moving in your direction.

Funny story. I'm a school-house cop, a school resource officer in a high school. I work for the local sheriff's office, but I work at the high school. One day a distraught parent came into the school and I heard loud voices so I went to see what the problem was. While trying to de-escalate the situation, the lady began to berate me, insisting that she wanted the real po-lice. She called 911 and told them that she needed a police officer at the high school.

Within seconds, my radio lit up. I told the dispatcher I was on scene and had the situation under control. Then, I turned to the distraught parent. "Okay, ma'am. You called 911. They called me. How can I help you?"

You can call family, friends, neighbors, depending on the circumstance and the problem you may be having, but a 911 call will get first-responders headed in your direction.
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Old March 12, 2013, 05:20 AM   #6
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Old March 12, 2013, 05:48 AM   #7
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Rural area, 911 for the fastest response of Sheriff and or State Police, maybe both and or ambulance.
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Old March 12, 2013, 06:18 AM   #8
Salmoneye
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Too vague a question...

'Help' is too general...

If you mean I need the police, then I call 911...

But it will be 20 minutes minimum where I live, so whatever the situation is, it's too late by the time I call for 'help'...

And far too late by the time any 'help' arrives...
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Old March 12, 2013, 06:21 AM   #9
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Vague question indeed.

If I was in trouble where a firearm was the solution, my first call would be 911 regardless of where I lived. I do live in the suburbs however.
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Old March 12, 2013, 06:43 AM   #10
redhologram
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911 to get the right people headed in my direction and to have it on record that I am in trouble. My rural location, however, typically means whatever kind of trouble comes up, I need to be prepared to handle it myself.
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Old March 12, 2013, 06:50 AM   #11
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Police - because it isn't going to go over well if they find out they weren't invited.
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Old March 12, 2013, 08:05 AM   #12
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911

A Sherriff’s deputy or Constable would respond.
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Old March 12, 2013, 09:18 AM   #13
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I'd call 911, but in the best case scenario, its gonna take the sheriff 30 minutes to get here.

So I'd just call, leave the phone on, so they have a recording of what's going on.

Another problem, I have to be close to the house phone cause cell phones don't work in this canyon.

So I just play it as it comes.
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Old March 12, 2013, 09:20 AM   #14
2ndsojourn
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911

suburbs

But between then and the time they arrive (5 - 10 minutes) I'm on my own.
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Old March 12, 2013, 09:24 AM   #15
Tombstonejim
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Neighbor then 911.

Response time for any deputy 45 minutes in the day time could be hours at night.

Middle of nowhere.
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Old March 12, 2013, 10:53 AM   #16
dajowi
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You don't describe "the problem." so it really depends. If it's serious and it's criminal or appears to be such and it's outside my house I call 911. If for instance the truck has a flat tire I call the wife.

Close enough to town that 911 would response rather quickly.
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Old March 12, 2013, 10:54 AM   #17
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I honestly don't see why you would want to dial anything except 911. By doing so, you both get the help you need as promptly as it is available and you go on record as having the problem and asking for LE involvement in case you are pressed into a SD shooting.

Neighbors and family may or may not be home, may or may not handle the situation well, may or may not be equipped with an appropriate combination of firearms and body armor, and definitely will not provide you with the documentation of the event that you may need.
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Old March 12, 2013, 11:19 AM   #18
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Define "trouble" ?

Assuming we are talking about some sort of an intruder or tresspassers, either way I would call 911 after grabbing a firearm and some spare magazines if I was not carrying. I live in the suburbs BTW

If I was home, I would hole up in my bedroom.

If I was at my families property in WI(which is very rural) I very well may arm up and flee into the woods, our main building up there is not the greatest place the hold up as it stands.

Quote:
I honestly don't see why you would want to dial anything except 911.
I have a good example of a situation. Our Ex-Neighbor (God rest his soul) up in Wisconsin was a retired Cook County Judge. He was a great guy, we helped each other all the time. He was also a gun guy.

The one time we have had to call 911 up at the family property about unknown trespassers on our property, after dark it took the cops about 40-45 mins to arrive. If things are going to go wrong, no way they will get there first. I could have seen calling our Neighbor first, then 911. Two guns are better than one.
Plus given the location of his property we could have gotten a would be intruder in one heck of a cross fire.

Most of the time it is better to call 911 first but sometimes situations, like I mentioned above your best chances for survival may be elsewhere.
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Old March 12, 2013, 11:36 AM   #19
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It's just silly not to call 911 first.
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Old March 12, 2013, 11:49 AM   #20
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Quote:
It's just silly not to call 911 first.
This^^^^^^
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Old March 12, 2013, 11:56 AM   #21
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This county is larger than the state of Rhode Island: There are two deputies on duty after normal working hours. It will be awhile before deputies show up. Our county sheriff encourages citizens to take care of business.

It its a home invasion or other attack i will call 911 after the crisis is over. If its a non-life threatening problem i will call the sheriffs dispatcher.
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Old March 12, 2013, 11:56 AM   #22
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I live in the Bay Area of California in the suburbs. A true story about some conversations with two City police officers several months ago. One lives in our neighborhood and another is a friend of the family:
Both separately said that if you are in trouble, don’t bother to dial 911 and expect a quick response. They both advised that if there was a life-threatening situation, to ‘take care of it’ ourselves. (!)
Very surprising to hear that from two separate officers in the same city polives department in two separate situations/conversations.

One alternate solution to look into is if your local police have a direct emergency line. Ours does and we now have that number programmed into all our phones. If we dial 911, the call gets routed ~50 miles away, gets re-routed several times and then finally back to our area. (Also confirmed by our city police.) A recent murder 3 homes down (and we live in a good area) took 2 hours from a dial 911 and hang-up until the officers arrived on-scene. 2 Hours later!

So, I would dial the ‘local’ police number first to get a fast response and then perhaps dial 911 to get any ‘recording’ or record of the situation that is necessary.

Being a private pilot, in any emergency, the sequence is:
Aviate, Navigate, Communicate

Meaning, first and foremost – in any emergency – first fly the plane!
Then, figure out where you need to go and lastly, then communicate with any ATC/tower.
I think it’s the same in a home emergency that is a police-type life threatening situation. First, take care of the emergency and know your plan of what needs to be done. Then, communicate when you have time. IF it’s possible to dial 911 during (e.g. a second person available to do so), then yes. But first take care of the emergency.

Just my two cents…

-Mike
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Old March 12, 2013, 12:49 PM   #23
Skadoosh
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Quote:
It its a home invasion or other attack i will call 911 after the crisis is over.
I would at least attempt to dial 911 while arming up. Drop the phone handset to the floor and then repel attackers is the best bet.
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Old March 12, 2013, 02:39 PM   #24
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Since it took 45 minutes for the sheriff to respond during a perceived home invasion scenario for my wife while I was deployed....

New plan for my family: arm yourself, dial 911, give quick description to the 911 operator, set the phone down, dial any of a couple close friends on the cell phone who can be there in minutes (of the single-digit variety), respond to threat, keep 911 advised if possible.

Obviously the respond to threat step is a floater, and can go up/down the scale as necessary.

I cannot depend on the local law enforcement to do anything but file the report after the event.

But on the bright side, it got my wife interested enough that she now wants to get a handgun and go through a CCW course! Initial testing of some .380s has proven she is just as good with that as a 20 gauge. Guess I better not make her angry or take out too much life insurance on myself!
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Old March 12, 2013, 02:47 PM   #25
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Call 911 But.......

Call 911 but be ready to help yourself. "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."

Lock and Load!
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