THE 
May 1, 2008 911 Dispatcher Falls Asleep!
This is some straight monkey doodle foolishness right here! A Memphis 911 Operator fell asleep during a call with someone in desperate need of help in this past January. Take me higher lord!
The call begins as Lisa calls 911 and a Memphis operator comes on the line.
Lisa tells the operator she was robbed at gunpoint earlier in the evening, and that she now hears someone trying to break into her home.
“I just heard tapping on my window,” she tells the operator. “I need somebody over here.”
The line goes silent.
As Lisa continues to explain her situation, the dispatcher does not respond.
Finally, one full minute later the sounds of snoring can be heard on the line.
“Are you there?” Lisa asks.
“Yes ma’am,” the operator replies. “What is the, um, what’s your address?”
Lisa can then be heard hanging up the phone.
Lisa eventually got help, but only after she called another 911 agency.
The operator was snoring and probably drooling too! If the operator was that tired, they should have taken a break, or called in. I am extremely flabbergasted at the dispatcher’s punishment. If I call in for help and the dispatcher falls asleep during the call and I die, oh lord have mercy kelly clarkson eddie murphy, I am coming back to life to mollywhop somebody’s a$$! Visit Fox News to listen to the audio. This is not the first time this has happened!
Soufian
May 1, 2008 at 2:43 am
oh my GOD!
mina330
May 1, 2008 at 2:58 am
Who can you trust with your life these days?
BabyBrown
May 1, 2008 at 3:34 am
SUED!!!!! & SOOOOOO FIRED!!
NurseFab
May 1, 2008 at 5:02 am
This is just horrible. I do have to say that I know people who work as police and fire dispatchers and to just “call in” or “take a break” is not an option. I personally have known of people being written up and even fired for doing just that. You go in for an 8hr shift and they force you to stay and work for 16! And they do this for several days in a row. They call it “drafting”, and if you leave or say “no, I am not staying” then you are written up or fired. These people (at least the ones that I know) are just trying to keep their jobs.
As a nurse, I damn near wrecked every morning on the drive home after working 12hrs and it was only 3 days a week! I can’t imagive having to work (overnight) for 16 hrs 5-6 days a week. I am sad that this has happened and I certainly don’t condone this type of foolishness (falling asleep on ANY job), but maybe the negative attention will force the powers that be to rethink their policies on how they force people to work.
mrsFAB
May 1, 2008 at 5:29 am
Ooooo B., I know the dispatcher that took that call. In fact, I worked in that very 911 office for 10 years!!!! Word is that the dispatcher got a 7 day suspension and the supervisor that did NOT write that dispatcher up in the 1st place, got a 20 day suspension!!!! I will check my sources, but it came from someone who still works up there. I am soooooo glad that I am away from that place. The stories I cound tell….
mrsFAB
May 1, 2008 at 5:34 am
Oh B., in other “foolish Memphis news”, did you hear about the Principal at Hollis Price Middle High School who called a gay couples’ parents and “outed” them? It is all over the news. The principal had the couples’ names written on a board in her office for everyone to see! The ACLU has even gotten in on it. The story is on wmctv.com…Your thought??
licia
May 1, 2008 at 6:02 am
that is messed up. i would be suing the hell out of them .
Tutti
May 1, 2008 at 8:20 am
Of course this had to take place in Memphis. As if we don’t have enough foolishness taking place as is.
Monnie
May 1, 2008 at 12:44 pm
” I am coming back to life to mollywhop somebody’s a$$!”
LOL! Straight Mollywhop! You know you’re from the South.
Stacy
May 1, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Dial 911 and DIE. I wonder if she learned anything and went and bought a gun. Somehow I doubt it. I dial 911 to come and clean up the intruder’s body.
sweet
May 2, 2008 at 7:49 am
I do think that the dispatcher should be held liable, but as a former 911 dispatcher I must say that the work schedule is tough. It often requires 8-16 hours of “mandatory” overtime. Of course you never know how much overtime, until you are in. You never know that you will probably always work 12-16 hours on the important holidays and when you plan birthday parties for your kids, you might not be able to make it because you may be drafted for mandatory overtime. You may be called in early or you may have to stay late. That’s the life of a dispatcher. And really…..sleeping is common in communications bureaus!!
I personally know this dispatcher and his supervisor. We worked together for years. They are lovely, hardworking individuals. The dispatcher is a single, father of two teenagers who happens to also have a few other jobs…because he needs them. Yes he had been off of work for almost 2 months because of a major medical emergency that had nothing to do with this.
So yes…he was wrong for sleeping but there are other things to consider before you judge his character!!!
And yes…I would be highly pissed if it happened to me…I’m just saying, I know how it can and does happen. My explanation is not an excuse……Change the bureaucracy and get better results!!!
sweet
May 2, 2008 at 8:05 am
Oh and that principal is ruthless but supposedly the students were exposed while participating in sexual activity…or so they said on the news this morning.
Me (AKA) Lisa
May 4, 2008 at 1:19 am
In reference to Stacy’s comment I can assure you nothing like that will EVER happen to me again. Appropriate measures have been taken in that regard so no doubts are necessary! And yes I understand there things that go on in our lives that make us tired in the mpd dispatchers case being single parent with teens. Or in my case being a single parent of 3 daughters under the age of 13. This story isn’t about what kind of person he is. It’s about his ability to perform his duties as a dispatcher/911 operator. And OWN UP TO THE RESPONSIBILITES if a mistake was made. In this case a serious mistake was made and he was so negligent w/my call. It could have cost me and my 13 yo old daughter our lives. We were forced to take matters into our own hands since HE LEFT US NO OTHER CHOICE in the matter. A 16 hour shift being his excuse. I DON’T THINK SO… Everyone of us dispatchers know that we can be held over for overtime. Myself as well as everyone I work with have been held over to work a 16 hr shift. I have worked many in fact. And yet none of us have ever “snored on a prowler call”. Or have been that negligent with any call. The punishment would be severe if you were lucky enough to escape being fired. Even after having a gun pointed in my face earlier that night… I started having horrible nightmares about being shot or my daughter seeing me shot….FOR MONTHS…. And yet I still came to work and did my job the way I was supposed to. NO CALLER WAS EVER NEGLECTED BY ME!!!!!! Several calls/attempts were made to resolve the issue within MPD. I tried to file a complaint within MPD internal affairs who in turn laughed at the matter and stated “We aren’t going to take this complaint!” I was lied to by the supervisor that was on duty that night regarding the dispatchers punishment. He stated the dispatcher was given 2 days of suspension. 2 DAYS!!!!!! Thats it? OH NO…… I did what anyone would have done if they cried for help and all cries went unanswered. Since mpd decided to do NOTHING like I did not matter it was up to me to do SOMETHING. This is only the beginning….And I hope that this will be a lesson learned for the mpd dispatcher. Get some rest before you pick up that 911 call otherwise your negligence could lead to someones death!! You made your bed now lay in it!
sweet
May 6, 2008 at 3:34 pm
By no means am I saying that what he did is in any way excuseable (is that a word?) It was totally wrong and I did say that.