THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 17, 1996 TAG: 9606150008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: George Hebert
LENGTH: 61 lines
A whacking great boom shook the house, and we were left in the pitch-dark. Almost immediately the lights came back on, but then a heavy, surging hum announced that trouble was still afoot somewhere close by. The power almost flickered off a moment or two later, and then again.
Guided by the noise, we went to a window and could see an angry glow off to the southwest, something that bloomed into a great incandescent ball every few seconds. We heard panicky cries, and people were running down our driveway in the direction of the light.
It seemed a 911 situation at the very least, so we called. The ring was promptly answered. I gave our location and the direction of the fiery commotion. A woman's quick but unexcited words conveyed appreciation, and advised that yes, there was trouble: A transformer was on fire.
This competent and informative 911 reaction of several days ago was in complete contrast to our only other use of the number, a couple of years back. That time, driving along an interstate right here in South Hampton Roads, we had seen on the shoulder a stopped car with a ``Call Police'' placard displayed. But when we left the interstate and found a phone, we discovered we had moved from one 911 zone into another. The operator's response was to suggest that we call the State Police.
Well, it turns out that good responses and bad or none (in some cases) are not an unusual mixture in citizens' encounters, nationwide, with the emergency phone operations set up in 1968 as a hopeful new way to deal more swiftly with crimes in progress and other sudden dangers.
In a broad-ranging cover story, U.S. News & World Report recently observed: ``The vast majority of 911 calls are handled efficiently and courteously, but recent years have seen more than enough horror stories to cause concern.''
Problems and criticism have various roots - delays in getting through to operators; brusque treatment of callers; delays in actual responses after citizens deliver their messages; risky diversions of police resources to handle the massive build-up in calls (many of them nonemergency contacts like reports of barking dogs or, incredibly, requests for kick-off times of certain football games).
In some places, the 911 volume has reached more than overwhelming proportions. The magazine reported that in Los Angeles last year, for instance, 13 percent of the calls (more than 300,000) were abandoned before operators could answer. Despite the timely and life-saving assistance that 911 often brings, some of the once-enthusiastic law-enforcement backers of the plan fear they may have oversold it; there is police talk of the ``tyranny of 911.''
Various remedies are being talked or tried. Some experts think the mushrooming use of the emergency number for trivial purposes, or for serious problems that don't require immediate action, can be eased by using some other number, also easily memorized, for nonemergencies. Efforts are also being made to boost funding to provide more and better-trained answering staff; to introduce imaginative new technology at the answering centers; to educate the public more thoroughly.
Certainly, making the system work is what makes the most sense. I'd say the good far outweighs the bad, whether I look at the nation's experience or re-examine my own.
Don't give up. Just get the bugs out. MEMO: Mr. Hebert, a former editor, lives in Norfolk. by CNB