5 ms·

Saw a dude sleeping on the street in -13°C today. My friend called the police. They told us to call the ambulance. We called the ambulace. They told us to call

by kebman 6y ago

Saw a dude sleeping on the street in -13°C today. My friend called the police. They told us to call the ambulance. We called the ambulace. They told us to call the police. We called the police. They said they'd call the ambulance........ Shortly after he was called up by the ambulance, who said the police was on their way. Well, it's good to know you get help over here, eventually.

sp332 6y ago
That's a terrible set of choices available. What could you expect the police to do, anyway?
- justin66 6y ago
  Drive the guy to a shelter, drive the guy outside of town and dump him in a snowdrift, or nothing seem like three typical options.
- 1123581321 6y ago
  Here, they would give him a ride if he gave them an address, or take him to a shelter.
- lm28469 6y ago
  To "serve and protect" its citizen ?
derefr 6y ago
I feel like most communities could really use a city-government-backed non-emergency medical dispatch. Not the ambulance/EMS (which is for emergencies and/or for bringing people to the hospital); not the police (who are armed and trained to respond with violence); just medical-ish people who could be called out to those in need of some important-but-not-urgent medical attention. It could even just be a volunteer service of community members with good upper-arm strength, first-aid training, and an extended form of Good Samaritan-law protections. Semi-professional first responders, with no other qualification than being a first responder. So basically, lifeguards. For places other than pools. Some communities that don't have many fires dispatch their firefighters for this, and that works pretty well. But most fire units don't have enough downtime for that to be workable.
- maxerickson 6y ago
  I live in a small town that has the same dispatch for all those services (police/fire/EMS). Covers a couple counties if I understand correctly. I guess we are weird in that police and fire are "public safety" instead of separate.
  - alistairSH 6y ago
    As far as 911 dispatch goes, this is fairly common. In my experience, it's not uncommon to get an ambulance and a police officer for the same call, even if only one is needed. This seems to be the norm for calls where a neighbor has fallen ill (or, in the case of the elderly, literally fallen over and can't get up).
- stickfigure 6y ago
  I'm a recently minted volunteer firefighter in northern Solano county (about 1hr north of SF). What you're describing is pretty much how it works here, and as I understand it, most other rural areas. 90% of our staff are volunteers. Some of the guys have EMT training (and some are EMTs in their day job) but most of us have just enough training to take vitals and do CPR until the pros arrive. Outside of fire season, maybe half the calls are medical? We're pretty remote so we get on scene faster than the ambulance. If you call 911, we show up.
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    Fun fact, this is largely a consequence of the reduction in house fires since building codes were improved in the mid to late 20th century. As house fires got rarer, cities had a conundrum; you obviously still need firefighters when fires cropped up, but the reduced rate of them made them sit idle a lot. The shift of medical duties into firefighters was a solution to that problem; give them something productive to do between increasingly rare house fires.
- csomar 6y ago
  A person sleeping in -13C is a serious medical emergency. There is a high probability he could die from hypothermia.
intellirogue 6y ago
Here in Berlin we have a service for exactly this called the Wärmebus (warm bus) run by Red Cross and the city. Social workers come out in a van, talk to the person, help them however possible. If they're willing to go to a shelter, they'll take them there. If not, they'll give them a cup of hot tea/coffee and whatever they need to stay warm: a jacket, sleeping bag, blankets, etc. https://www.drk-berlin.de/angebote/mitmachen/waermebus.html https://www.drk-berlin.de/angebote/mitmachen/waermebus.html
Kaze404 6y ago
This is also my experience with the police. I've had to call them 5 times in my life, and not once did those calls result in any sort of action being taken. In fact, in the most recent one, the operator forgot to hang up the call and openly mocked me to her coworker while I sat there listening. It's maddening. Especially in a country where the police kill so many people every year, I can't help but wonder what the purpose of this system even is if they can literally lie to your face saying they'll send someone and just not.
- wonder_er 6y ago
  > I can't help but wonder what the purpose of this system even is if they can literally lie to your face saying they'll send someone and just not. The system is functioning as intended. It's just not functioning as advertised: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-police/id1518323701 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-police/id15... This podcast is exceptional. A fair bit of profanity, takes a few minutes to get going, but it's a spinoff of the "Behind the Bastards" podcast. They make a good case for the modern US police force to be deputized slave patrols. :(
  - Kaze404 6y ago
    Thank you, I'll give it a listen. Though I should add that I'm not in the US, though the situation with the police here is similar (and more violent).
- ModernMech 6y ago
  > I can't help but wonder what the purpose of this system Some words I live by: The purpose of a system is what it does. The purpose of the police is to protect private property, especially if it's owned by corporations. They're not there to protect you or keep your community safe. They are there to keep private property and capital private.

by kebman 6y ago

sp332 6y ago

That's a terrible set of choices available. What could you expect the police to do, anyway?

justin66 6y ago
Drive the guy to a shelter, drive the guy outside of town and dump him in a snowdrift, or nothing seem like three typical options.
1123581321 6y ago
Here, they would give him a ride if he gave them an address, or take him to a shelter.
lm28469 6y ago
To "serve and protect" its citizen ?

derefr 6y ago

I feel like most communities could really use a city-government-backed non-emergency medical dispatch. Not the ambulance/EMS (which is for emergencies and/or for bringing people to the hospital); not the police (who are armed and trained to respond with violence); just medical-ish people who could be called out to those in need of some important-but-not-urgent medical attention. It could even just be a volunteer service of community members with good upper-arm strength, first-aid training, and an extended form of Good Samaritan-law protections. Semi-professional first responders, with no other qualification than being a first responder. So basically, lifeguards. For places other than pools. Some communities that don't have many fires dispatch their firefighters for this, and that works pretty well. But most fire units don't have enough downtime for that to be workable.

maxerickson 6y ago
I live in a small town that has the same dispatch for all those services (police/fire/EMS). Covers a couple counties if I understand correctly. I guess we are weird in that police and fire are "public safety" instead of separate.
- alistairSH 6y ago
  As far as 911 dispatch goes, this is fairly common. In my experience, it's not uncommon to get an ambulance and a police officer for the same call, even if only one is needed. This seems to be the norm for calls where a neighbor has fallen ill (or, in the case of the elderly, literally fallen over and can't get up).
stickfigure 6y ago
I'm a recently minted volunteer firefighter in northern Solano county (about 1hr north of SF). What you're describing is pretty much how it works here, and as I understand it, most other rural areas. 90% of our staff are volunteers. Some of the guys have EMT training (and some are EMTs in their day job) but most of us have just enough training to take vitals and do CPR until the pros arrive. Outside of fire season, maybe half the calls are medical? We're pretty remote so we get on scene faster than the ambulance. If you call 911, we show up.
- ashtonkem 6y ago
  Fun fact, this is largely a consequence of the reduction in house fires since building codes were improved in the mid to late 20th century. As house fires got rarer, cities had a conundrum; you obviously still need firefighters when fires cropped up, but the reduced rate of them made them sit idle a lot. The shift of medical duties into firefighters was a solution to that problem; give them something productive to do between increasingly rare house fires.
csomar 6y ago
A person sleeping in -13C is a serious medical emergency. There is a high probability he could die from hypothermia.

intellirogue 6y ago

Here in Berlin we have a service for exactly this called the Wärmebus (warm bus) run by Red Cross and the city. Social workers come out in a van, talk to the person, help them however possible. If they're willing to go to a shelter, they'll take them there. If not, they'll give them a cup of hot tea/coffee and whatever they need to stay warm: a jacket, sleeping bag, blankets, etc. https://www.drk-berlin.de/angebote/mitmachen/waermebus.html https://www.drk-berlin.de/angebote/mitmachen/waermebus.html

Kaze404 6y ago

This is also my experience with the police. I've had to call them 5 times in my life, and not once did those calls result in any sort of action being taken. In fact, in the most recent one, the operator forgot to hang up the call and openly mocked me to her coworker while I sat there listening. It's maddening. Especially in a country where the police kill so many people every year, I can't help but wonder what the purpose of this system even is if they can literally lie to your face saying they'll send someone and just not.

wonder_er 6y ago
> I can't help but wonder what the purpose of this system even is if they can literally lie to your face saying they'll send someone and just not. The system is functioning as intended. It's just not functioning as advertised: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-police/id1518323701 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-police/id15... This podcast is exceptional. A fair bit of profanity, takes a few minutes to get going, but it's a spinoff of the "Behind the Bastards" podcast. They make a good case for the modern US police force to be deputized slave patrols. :(
- Kaze404 6y ago
  Thank you, I'll give it a listen. Though I should add that I'm not in the US, though the situation with the police here is similar (and more violent).
ModernMech 6y ago
> I can't help but wonder what the purpose of this system Some words I live by: The purpose of a system is what it does. The purpose of the police is to protect private property, especially if it's owned by corporations. They're not there to protect you or keep your community safe. They are there to keep private property and capital private.