Emergency Call Revised

“911? I want to report an intruder! We need the police right away!”

“Please state the nature of the emergency, ma’am.” The dispatcher let her professional alertness and confidence come through clearly to the shakey female voice on the other end of the line.

“We have an intruder in our house! My husband has her cornered in the bedroom,” the voice replied.

“Your name and address?”

“Mr. And Mrs. B. Bear, 211 Forest Lane. Send help--hurry—-she may be armed!”

Thank goodness, thought the dispatcher as she prepared to alert a squad car; often callers were so upset that they wasted valuable response time just trying to remember their address.

“A unit is on its way, ma’am; please describe what happened.”

“Well,” said Mrs. Bear, “well, you see, we’d all three, that’s Mr. Bear, myself and the baby, we’d all gone out for a walk before breakfast, and when we returned we noticed right away that someone had been in the house.”

“You entered the house?” The dispatcher allowed a note of concern to creep into her voice. People just don’t think! They walk right into a house and interrupt a violent criminal who then inflicts bodily harm, and in the end it’s the fault of the police for not showing up fast enough.

“Yes, Mr. Bear went in first and checked all the rooms.” Mrs. Bear’s voice was rising in pitch as she became even more excited. “The kitchen and living room were disarranged, an antique rocking chair that had belonged to my grandmother broken to bits! It’s irreplaceable!”

“Ma’am,” put in the dispatcher quickly, “it’s very dangerous to enter a building where you suspect an intruder. You should always call us right away from a neighbor’s house and wait outside. You and your child should exit the house immediately.”

“Oh, yes, I know,” Mrs. Bear wailed, “but really, my husband was so upset! He ran upstairs and then hollered down to me to call you—-that he had someone captured in the bedroom. Oh, my goodness!” A rumbling was audible in the background. “I hear noises! I can hear crying and my husband growling!”

“Stay calm, ma’am; I want you to go outside and wait for the patrol car. This is important, now. Will you do that for me?” The dispatcher coaxed. “Are you calling from a mobile phone so that you can stay on the line?”

“Yes, I am. We’re outside now. Baby and I are both in the driveway. I can still hear my husband through the open bedroom window. It sounds as if there’s a struggle going on. And now the baby is crying, too. Oh, dear, oh dear!”

“Ma’am, the officers just radioed their position; they should be arriving momentarily.”

The dispatcher kept the conversation going for another moment or two, until she could hear sirens in the background, and then signed off. Phew! she thought to herself, I always knew something would blow up sometime in that Forest Lane area.

***************

“Dispatch, this is 1-Adam 5. We have the intruder at the Bear residence in custody. Please send medics to 211 Forest Lane right away. Mr. Bear has suffered severe bite wounds to his paws and forearms. Suspect is a white, juvenile female, blond, blue dress. Won’t divulge her name or address. Call CPS and have a social worker available. Better have a psych, too, this one’s pretty well over the edge. Very oppositional. Inclined to blame the Bears for leaving their door open and owning poor quality furniture. All right—we’re on our way. 1-Adam-5 out.”