6 ms·

Oakland needs this help so badly. Call 911 on a cell in Oakland, and you're going to wait on hold for 30 minutes, most of which will be you being transfered to

Oakland needs this help so badly. Call 911 on a cell in Oakland, and you're going to wait on hold for 30 minutes, most of which will be you being transfered to the wrong departments over and over. You start at a call center somewhere in middle America with a person who does not know where Oakland is. They pass you to CA CHP, who don't know Oakland either, because their dispatcher on the line is out of Sacramento. Finally, you get dumped to the local 911, which is overwhelmed, has long hold times, and sometimes even hangs up on you. Just FYI, if you are ever in Oakland and have trouble, DO NOT CALL 911. Call the police directly at 510-777-3333 This Oakland 911 problem is, I think, the biggest single technical problem with Oakland as a whole, and it's been this way for 20 years...

philip1209 8y ago
SF 911 hold times are ridiculous. On two occasions (out of about four ever) I abandoned the call after being on hold for 5+ minutes.
core-questions 8y ago
Let's say 911 there got staffed up and got resources to handle the call volume. Would this actually translate to better emergency services response? One assumes they're also all busy, all the time, no?
- detaro 8y ago
  High-priority call that makes it through to a dispatcher at least has a chance to be "triaged" and responders from something less urgent pulled for it?
  - core-questions 8y ago
    Mmm, good point. Still, I'd bet that the money would be better spent beefing up policing / emergency service efforts instead of giving them even more work that they'll never get to. That said, I'd never feel safe living somewhere where 911 didn't answer immediately and have an average response time within a few minutes.
nxc18 8y ago
This is fucked. You should never have to wait for a 911 call to be answered. Our society needs to do better. Can you share any insight into how things got so bad? What failure of politics or market forces led to this situation? What needs to change before everyone who needs help can get it when they need it?
- briandear 8y ago
  It’s a question of priorities. 911 doesn’t excite voters as much as a bike line or zoning. Government gets many fundamentals wrong: pothole repair and 911 are good examples. Instead the Oakland mayor (and mayors everywhere) prefer to grandstand on hot button issues rather than doing the actual hard work of running a city. This is why I am suspicious when people call for more government regulation; it isn’t because I disagree with the idea, but I am not confident when it comes to actual execution. It isn’t even about money — it’s about how that money is managed and allocated.
- beenBoutIT 8y ago
  Improving the 911 EMS system won't improve police response time in Oakland because Oakland, like most of the US, has an ongoing shortage of police officers. There isn't any easy way to make the job of a police officer more attractive.
  - gascan 8y ago
    The hatred directed at police officers certainly doesn't help. The recent fury directed at the handful of police officers who did not enter this or that school with an active shooter comes to mind. People have the expectation that police officers are required to die for us. Imagine being told by someone who already hates you, that you are supposed to die for them. It feels like we are awfully entitled when it comes to the police. We expect them to serve us with the highest integrity, kindness, & selflessness, while offering them mediocre pay, disgust, & hatred in exchange.
    - philjohn 8y ago
      With all due respect, a lot of that hatred stems from the high profile cases where police have overstepped the bounds with little or no recourse. The body cam of that man in the hotel corridor being just one of the latest.
chefandy 8y ago
get up get get, get down
- chefandy 8y ago
  Not a lot of public enemy fans here.
ryanmarsh 8y ago
My friend Matthew Hanson died in Oakland. He was shot in his home and died because of the 911 problem. Appalling. In my home area 911 picks up immediately and police and EMS would have been there in under 15 minutes. This story below (headline about how the shooter subsequently died) explains that there were two alterations. My friend (the victim) called 911 during the first altercation, 40 minutes before the second altercation where he was subsequently shot. He stayed alive for long enough to call 911 a second time. Sadly they didn't make it there in time. When the police arrived they couldn't get anyone to answer the door so they left. Matthew was found by a friend. https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/06/15/oakland-slaying-suspect-dies-from-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound-in-southern-california/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/06/15/oakland-slaying-suspe...
e40 8y ago
Just FYI, if you are ever in Oakland and have trouble, DO NOT CALL 911. Call the police directly at 510-777-3333 I recommend that whatever city you are in, you have a shortcut to the police on your home screen (perhaps buried a little, so you don't accidentally butt dial it).
- giancarlostoro 8y ago
  Is there some sort of app for this sorta thing? I mean with numbers of police departments by city... I often wonder, sometimes depending on the trouble its a little smarter to call the police station directly especially if you know you need police and not... an ambulance or fire department.
- hawkesnest 8y ago
  I had an eye-opening experience with this. My android phone's home screen was locked, but somehow I managed to butt-dial emergency services. It wasn't until the police knocked on my door that I looked at my device to see what had happened. They were able to accurately find me at my house in an average suburban neighborhood. While I was pleased at the response, I was also quite embarrassed to have taken these folks away from more urgent matters.
  - e40 8y ago
    I wonder if after the butt dial, your butt locked the phone (or it auto-locked after a time)?
gnopgnip 8y ago
This has not been my experience. Last month I called 911 after getting hit by a car and I was speaking with someone within 10 seconds.
reaperducer 8y ago
Sadly, this is not unique to Oakland. Several of the cities I've lived in have been plagued with 911 hold times of 10-20 minutes or more. In one city, the mayor threatened to put a checklist on the ballot so people could decide which types of emergencies would be responded to, and the top vote-getters would be funded. In another, a city council member publicly told his constituents "the police are not here to protect you. If you want to be safe, get a gun and a dog." In Las Vegas for several years recently, the police department stopped responding to traffic crashes unless someone was killed. The insurance companies put pressure on the city to reverse that. Unfortunately, it seems that all of the "homeland security" money that the feds send to the locals goes into military-grade weapons, and not into basic services like 911 and police patrols. I would like to see a city sell the tanks it gets from the feds and use the money for 911, and other needed services.
- himom 8y ago
  Ouch. Sounds like a failed state scenario: anarchy by services disappearing and unconcern for community. When a government ceases to provide a fundamental function, such as protecting its citizens, it risks irrelevancy... and citizens better form their own government to replace the one not doing its job, or they’re inviting criminal thugs reminiscent of ISIS to fill the power-vacuum.
  - zolthrowaway 8y ago
    Many political philosophies believe THE fundamental purpose of government is to protect. Not performing the reason why people accept government in the first place means that the government has failed to do the reason it was created. It's not a legitimate government. Your post and example is right on the money. This is incredibly scary and seems to be happening more and more as governments aren't allocating funds to do critical functions.
  - bilbo0s 8y ago
    Problem is, the "...people ... form[ing] their own government to replace the one not doing its job..." usually ARE the ISIS-like thugs. This is one of the great aporias of civic discord.
himom 8y ago
It seems like there oughta be an app that can make it easy to pick non-/emergency numbers for a given location, type of service and jurisdiction (highway/state, unincorporated/county sheriff, incorporated/municipality, park ranger, tribal, military, etc.)
Aloha 8y ago
In California all Cellular 911 calls are answered by CHP.
drewmol 8y ago
Crowdsource 911 dispach?
frockington 8y ago
Where does all of the money in California go? I live in a low tax "poor" state and have never had any issues with police/fire/ems answering promptly and arriving in time

philip1209 8y ago

SF 911 hold times are ridiculous. On two occasions (out of about four ever) I abandoned the call after being on hold for 5+ minutes.

core-questions 8y ago

Let's say 911 there got staffed up and got resources to handle the call volume. Would this actually translate to better emergency services response? One assumes they're also all busy, all the time, no?

detaro 8y ago
High-priority call that makes it through to a dispatcher at least has a chance to be "triaged" and responders from something less urgent pulled for it?
- core-questions 8y ago
  Mmm, good point. Still, I'd bet that the money would be better spent beefing up policing / emergency service efforts instead of giving them even more work that they'll never get to. That said, I'd never feel safe living somewhere where 911 didn't answer immediately and have an average response time within a few minutes.

nxc18 8y ago

This is fucked. You should never have to wait for a 911 call to be answered. Our society needs to do better. Can you share any insight into how things got so bad? What failure of politics or market forces led to this situation? What needs to change before everyone who needs help can get it when they need it?

briandear 8y ago
It’s a question of priorities. 911 doesn’t excite voters as much as a bike line or zoning. Government gets many fundamentals wrong: pothole repair and 911 are good examples. Instead the Oakland mayor (and mayors everywhere) prefer to grandstand on hot button issues rather than doing the actual hard work of running a city. This is why I am suspicious when people call for more government regulation; it isn’t because I disagree with the idea, but I am not confident when it comes to actual execution. It isn’t even about money — it’s about how that money is managed and allocated.
beenBoutIT 8y ago
Improving the 911 EMS system won't improve police response time in Oakland because Oakland, like most of the US, has an ongoing shortage of police officers. There isn't any easy way to make the job of a police officer more attractive.
- gascan 8y ago
  The hatred directed at police officers certainly doesn't help. The recent fury directed at the handful of police officers who did not enter this or that school with an active shooter comes to mind. People have the expectation that police officers are required to die for us. Imagine being told by someone who already hates you, that you are supposed to die for them. It feels like we are awfully entitled when it comes to the police. We expect them to serve us with the highest integrity, kindness, & selflessness, while offering them mediocre pay, disgust, & hatred in exchange.
  - philjohn 8y ago
    With all due respect, a lot of that hatred stems from the high profile cases where police have overstepped the bounds with little or no recourse. The body cam of that man in the hotel corridor being just one of the latest.

chefandy 8y ago

get up get get, get down

chefandy 8y ago
Not a lot of public enemy fans here.

ryanmarsh 8y ago

My friend Matthew Hanson died in Oakland. He was shot in his home and died because of the 911 problem. Appalling. In my home area 911 picks up immediately and police and EMS would have been there in under 15 minutes. This story below (headline about how the shooter subsequently died) explains that there were two alterations. My friend (the victim) called 911 during the first altercation, 40 minutes before the second altercation where he was subsequently shot. He stayed alive for long enough to call 911 a second time. Sadly they didn't make it there in time. When the police arrived they couldn't get anyone to answer the door so they left. Matthew was found by a friend. https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/06/15/oakland-slaying-suspect-dies-from-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound-in-southern-california/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/06/15/oakland-slaying-suspe...

e40 8y ago

Just FYI, if you are ever in Oakland and have trouble, DO NOT CALL 911. Call the police directly at 510-777-3333 I recommend that whatever city you are in, you have a shortcut to the police on your home screen (perhaps buried a little, so you don't accidentally butt dial it).

giancarlostoro 8y ago
Is there some sort of app for this sorta thing? I mean with numbers of police departments by city... I often wonder, sometimes depending on the trouble its a little smarter to call the police station directly especially if you know you need police and not... an ambulance or fire department.
hawkesnest 8y ago
I had an eye-opening experience with this. My android phone's home screen was locked, but somehow I managed to butt-dial emergency services. It wasn't until the police knocked on my door that I looked at my device to see what had happened. They were able to accurately find me at my house in an average suburban neighborhood. While I was pleased at the response, I was also quite embarrassed to have taken these folks away from more urgent matters.
- e40 8y ago
  I wonder if after the butt dial, your butt locked the phone (or it auto-locked after a time)?

gnopgnip 8y ago

This has not been my experience. Last month I called 911 after getting hit by a car and I was speaking with someone within 10 seconds.

reaperducer 8y ago

Sadly, this is not unique to Oakland. Several of the cities I've lived in have been plagued with 911 hold times of 10-20 minutes or more. In one city, the mayor threatened to put a checklist on the ballot so people could decide which types of emergencies would be responded to, and the top vote-getters would be funded. In another, a city council member publicly told his constituents "the police are not here to protect you. If you want to be safe, get a gun and a dog." In Las Vegas for several years recently, the police department stopped responding to traffic crashes unless someone was killed. The insurance companies put pressure on the city to reverse that. Unfortunately, it seems that all of the "homeland security" money that the feds send to the locals goes into military-grade weapons, and not into basic services like 911 and police patrols. I would like to see a city sell the tanks it gets from the feds and use the money for 911, and other needed services.

himom 8y ago
Ouch. Sounds like a failed state scenario: anarchy by services disappearing and unconcern for community. When a government ceases to provide a fundamental function, such as protecting its citizens, it risks irrelevancy... and citizens better form their own government to replace the one not doing its job, or they’re inviting criminal thugs reminiscent of ISIS to fill the power-vacuum.
- zolthrowaway 8y ago
  Many political philosophies believe THE fundamental purpose of government is to protect. Not performing the reason why people accept government in the first place means that the government has failed to do the reason it was created. It's not a legitimate government. Your post and example is right on the money. This is incredibly scary and seems to be happening more and more as governments aren't allocating funds to do critical functions.
- bilbo0s 8y ago
  Problem is, the "...people ... form[ing] their own government to replace the one not doing its job..." usually ARE the ISIS-like thugs. This is one of the great aporias of civic discord.

himom 8y ago

It seems like there oughta be an app that can make it easy to pick non-/emergency numbers for a given location, type of service and jurisdiction (highway/state, unincorporated/county sheriff, incorporated/municipality, park ranger, tribal, military, etc.)

Aloha 8y ago

In California all Cellular 911 calls are answered by CHP.

drewmol 8y ago

Crowdsource 911 dispach?

frockington 8y ago

Where does all of the money in California go? I live in a low tax "poor" state and have never had any issues with police/fire/ems answering promptly and arriving in time