In <telecom25.69.12@telecom-digest.org> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:
[ snip of some historical stuff regarding his city ]
> calls city wide. There was a murder in process that generated a lot
> of calls but the operators didn't classify and prioritize it properly
> and the calls were spread over the whole room so there was no sense of
> urgency. A boy was killed as a result of no police response. The
> parents had an excellent lawsuit case but they said that wouldn't
> bring back their son. Rather, they asked that the city revamp its
> system (which would be rather costly) which was done.
Err, I strongly doubt "the parents had an excellent lawsuit". Despite
the common belief, there is _NO_ "duty to act" by the police or other
government services (outside of some very specific situations). There are
court cases up the kazoo where the various plaintifs find their cases
thrown out.
> There are still some problems with 911 receiving operators and the
> computer systems they use.
Talk to your mayor, council, whatever. It's _their_ decision to go for
the cheap.
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, excuse me, but if police are
notified of a crime in progress or one recently committed, yet have
'no duty to act on it' except as it happens to suit them to do so,
then _why_ are we citizens forbidden often times to carry handguns or
cure criminal situations ourselves? And if police are too clumsy to
coordinate their activities in these cases then why shouldn't citizens
be permitted to cure the shortcoming themselves? What prevents police
from failing to act on crimes due to their overall corruption and
malfeasance, then blaming it on things like their improperly
programmed computer system and seeking the protection of the law under
the 'we have no duty to act' provision? Tell me this, Danny, do
police in New York _ever_ get punished for incompetence (if not just
downright refusal to obey the law) or is it there a lot like it is in
Chicago, where by and large police just do as they damn well please in
their actions and attitudes toward citizens? If I were the mother or
father of that slain child I would definitly turn the screws very hard
on police and I am sure there are many legal groups which would be
perfectly willing to help with it. Police and city governments are not
the only ones with unlimited budgets to use to stall for time on
having to become accountable. PAT]
Danny Burstein (dannyb@panix.com)