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i worked in a 9-1-1 center for a few years, and, while it is sad that the mother died, i'll wait for the full investigation to complete before passing judgement on the dispatcher. From the two snippets of the tape that were played on the cnn video i would have considered this call a prank as well. The child doesnt respond when asked basic questions and makes inaudible mumblings. I still would have dispatched a police officer to check on the situation, however, from the story we have no indication if that was done or not.
It could have been very possible that while the 9-1-1 operator scolded the child, they might have still dispatched aid and the problem was a delayed response to the call.
That video story is, imo, a very sensationalized version of the story and i'll wait for a full investigation until passing judgement on the dispatcher, call center supervisor, and possible lack of officer response before declaring this the fault of the dispatcher. Shit may roll downhill, but responsibility for a bad call goes up the line past the dispatcher who mishandled it, if that is infact what happened.
You have to keep in mind too, that one of the jobs of a 9-1-1 operator is to determine the emergency and assign the appropriate resources to the call. Tying up life saving apparatus and personell on prank calls and calls that are not an emergency can just as easily put other people at risk of not having responders available when they call.
As to it being a mandate for a police officer to respond to any call, thats incorrect. Some agencies may have a policy to dispatch an officer, but it is not a federal standard, nor should it be, imo. The amount of resources assigned to such a task of responding to every single trapped line, regardless if it was a misdial, or anything else would be a huge detriment to responding quickly to legit emergencies.
As to scripted questions, some call centers use them, but for the most part those scripts are part of the emergency medical pre-arrival response system. Most centers dont use a script for the initial call, and i believe they shouldnt. scripted responses are not the fastest way to elicit pertinent details from a scared, timid, irrate, or hysterical caller. Each situation is different and requires a different approach to handling the caller. Medical pre-arrival scripts are very handy tho. They're simple yet clear directions given to the person to administer first-aid to the victim. Those cards and arrival instructions (pertaining to specific medical situations and aid the caller in giving immediate care to the victim) are backed by an agency physician and usually a state standards board.
I hope that this doesnt come off as seeming cold, its a sad situation for sure, but i'd strongly encourage you to take a look at the news story from the perspective that you're hearing very small clips and not seeing any of the other behind the scenes stuff that it is possible the dispatcher did do. I'll be interested in reading the result of the full investigation.
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