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When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers

nytimes.com

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Re: When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers

#71

Post by CPLX »

jzwinck wrote: post #16

In the US a lot of us grew up with the idea that when something really bad was happening you would dial 911 and people would appear very soon to help you. I don't know whether this myth was ever true, but it certainly is not true today. I have called 911 or its equivalent more than a dozen times on three continents. No magic helping people appear within five minutes. Or ten. Usually not twenty either. Sometimes not a…

This doesn't sound right. I don't know as much about other cities but if you call 911 in Manhattan you're going to be connected to a call center at Metrotech in Brooklyn, a few blocks from where I am typing this, where a real live human who is almost certainly from NYC and lives here will answer your call, determine the precinct and sector and get the job to dispatch.

If someone is asking clarifying details it's likely because they are trained to do so, as people in real life emergencies tend to get flustered and make mistakes.

The 911 system in NYC is sophisticated, was revamped by the Bloomberg administration heavily in the wake of September 11th, and is very much part of the civil service here. Your story about calling 911 in NYC and getting an out of town call center is obvious fiction and makes me doubt the rest of your stories as a result.

Re: When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers

#72

Post by digi_owl »

hackuser wrote: post #10
nkrisc wrote: post #6

Privatization sounds great when you can afford your own private services. Otherwise, tough luck, pull on those bootstraps harder.

Also, privatization often means: Give big government contracts to the campaign donors of the politician pushing privatization.

Oh so very much this. Also the IPO antics when a formerly public service is made into a private company...

Re: When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers

#73

Post by _yosefk »

kartan wrote: post #54
jzwinck wrote: post #16

In the US a lot of us grew up with the idea that when something really bad was happening you would dial 911 and people would appear very soon to help you. I don't know whether this myth was ever true, but it certainly is not true today. I have called 911 or its equivalent more than a dozen times on three continents. No magic helping people appear within five minutes. Or ten. Usually not twenty either. Sometimes not a…

> 911 is broken. Be prepared to take care of yourself. For the past 30 years all around the world all cities are safer than ever. I don't see the catastrophic situation than you describe. In any case if corporations are taking over basic services is a political issue that should be solved in elections and with political action. "Be prepared to take care of yourself." is the wrong approach as it just asks people to re…

It doesn't ask people to renounce rights, it's just a person telling what the situation is right now in their experience, which is useful information. It's descriptive, not normative. Just like there's nothing wrong with telling someone it's dangerous to walk the streets of neighborhood X at night and it doesn't "happily" imply that it should be dangerous to walk the streets of neighborhood X at night.

Re: When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers

#74

Post by wojcech »

mschuster91 wrote: post #66

This is so utterly disgusting. The US should look at Germany, once again: we do have private companies managing medical services - usually awarded in 3-5 year contracts, and e.g. in case of Munich, there are multiple companies in addition to the various NGOs (Malteser, Red Cross, Johanniter). All of them have to provide a standardized set of equipment and education for the personnel. Oh, and there's a law that mandat…

Amen, but I am starting to think that this is a cultural thing... civil law vs common law, rhinian capitalism vs Anglo-Saxon capitalism. German private does not mean American private, and that is good in my opinion. A lot of people moan about regulations and strong unions(like with the train conducters recently), but forget how important they are society wide

Re: When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers

#75

Post by mysterypie »

CPLX wrote: post #71
jzwinck wrote: post #16

In the US a lot of us grew up with the idea that when something really bad was happening you would dial 911 and people would appear very soon to help you. I don't know whether this myth was ever true, but it certainly is not true today. I have called 911 or its equivalent more than a dozen times on three continents. No magic helping people appear within five minutes. Or ten. Usually not twenty either. Sometimes not a…

This doesn't sound right. I don't know as much about other cities but if you call 911 in Manhattan you're going to be connected to a call center at Metrotech in Brooklyn, a few blocks from where I am typing this, where a real live human who is almost certainly from NYC and lives here will answer your call, determine the precinct and sector and get the job to dispatch. If someone is asking clarifying details it's like…

> Your story about calling 911 in NYC and getting an out of town call center is obvious fiction

You sound very sure of yourself, but telephony is pretty damn complex and there are lots of strange things that happen in telephone call routing. Maybe if that guy has a cell number from another city or a foreign country, or with a certain carrier that doesn't comply with all the requirements of E911, or there are obscure bugs in the routing system, it'll get routed to a non-NYC call center. Are you sure that never happens?

Re: When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers

#76

Post by partisan »

MichaelGG wrote: post #68
wnoise wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can share guards with a neighbor even without being behind the same fence. What he's describing is merely a community.

Sure, but without a wall and entry point it becomes much more difficult to monitor people in and out. Foot and car traffic gets scanned and must be buzzed into the area. Taxis or anything suspicious are forced to open the trunk and get a quick security check on exit (avoid kidnapping/theft). I've lived in loosely-gated communities, and the sense of security is just far less. Here I don't mind walking around at 2am --…

What's the upside to living in Guatemala? I ask this as a first generation American and as someone who is considering leaving the states for a while.

Re: When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers

#77

Post by arca_vorago »

Back when I was contracting I got a gig to install and update 911 in cities within about a 50 miles radius. I was appalled at the state of 911 once I saw it from the inside, even with the new system I was installing, which was running on Windows Server 2003 and was obviously poorly secured and tossed together by someone in Dallas who knew .net and knew the old boy system to get the contract.

This is one more reason why I try to explain to people that you need to be prepared to take of a problem yourself, because cops and ambulances will just show up and either take you to the hospital or draw chalk around your body.

Self defense is an inherent natural right and its one more reason the right to bear arms is so important.

Re: When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers

#79

Post by a3n »

jzwinck wrote: post #16

In the US a lot of us grew up with the idea that when something really bad was happening you would dial 911 and people would appear very soon to help you. I don't know whether this myth was ever true, but it certainly is not true today. I have called 911 or its equivalent more than a dozen times on three continents. No magic helping people appear within five minutes. Or ten. Usually not twenty either. Sometimes not a…

It depends on where you are. I've had excellent experience with the few times I've called, in Arapahoe and Jefferson Counties, Colorado.

I had an outright "please come right away" emergency with my kid, and an ambulance came right away.

I've called about suspicious activity in the neighborhood, and the sheriff came right away.

I even called because someone stole the registration tag from my car and taped it on their car (a neighbor living in the same apartment building) and they showed up, not at emergency speed but way before I would have been pissed.

The ambulance is part of the fire department here (and often it's a firetruck that shows up before the ambulance, all the same people). And we're not nuts like Chicago apparently is.

EDIT:

> Be prepared to take care of yourself.

I agree with that 100%.

Re: When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers

#80

Post by a3n »

kartan wrote: post #54
jzwinck wrote: post #16

In the US a lot of us grew up with the idea that when something really bad was happening you would dial 911 and people would appear very soon to help you. I don't know whether this myth was ever true, but it certainly is not true today. I have called 911 or its equivalent more than a dozen times on three continents. No magic helping people appear within five minutes. Or ten. Usually not twenty either. Sometimes not a…

> 911 is broken. Be prepared to take care of yourself. For the past 30 years all around the world all cities are safer than ever. I don't see the catastrophic situation than you describe. In any case if corporations are taking over basic services is a political issue that should be solved in elections and with political action. "Be prepared to take care of yourself." is the wrong approach as it just asks people to re…

> For the past 30 years all around the world all cities are safer than ever.

Yeah, I think I remember reading that heart attack outcomes improved "a lot," so long ago that it's just an assumption I have by now. It's better with 911 than without (along with all the other improvements in first response).

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