We have almost 1000 officers total in our department, but due to a number of factors (sickness, injury, training, overtime issues, special assignments and details, military leave, vacation, and personal days - just to briefly cover some of them) you are rarely if ever running with a full shift. Most cities break up their coverage into specific areas/zones and have a dedicated department to each. If you're running short on one and have a major incident (e.g. homicide, possible active burglary, multiple vehicle collision) you will have a lot of officers tied up and only a few to dedicate to other calls. Unless it's a priority call (in which case they can try to call in officers from other parts of the city, or even from boroughs/townships outside of the city) it will have to wait until they're done or even be disregarded. If a third party call for an assault came out in which both the victim and witness were gone, and they were tied up on some kind of caper, it would not surprise me if it got dropped to a low priority and was taken care of a long time later. Those do happen - if we're getting hammered and things start clearing up, I can be dispatched to a call that's an hour or two old.
It's tricky ground over here in the States though, Smurf. If there's no victim we can often get tangled up over something like this, especially if we find something on them. Back when I was still wet behind the ears, we got a third party call for two people smoking crack behind one of the businesses downtown. The caller was a security guard but did not want to be in the report, thus it was essentially an unknown caller. I stopped both of them as they were leaving the alley, found paraphernalia on both, and on one of them found a stolen handgun with the serial number filed off. I was excited as it was one of my first real big cases, and when they waived their right to a preliminary hearing to go right up to criminal court I thought for sure I was going to have an open and shut case. During the suppression hearing, because I was acting on unconfirmed information and did not have any complainant, the judge said my search was bad and tossed out all the evidence (which was and still is case law today unfortunately). Both of the goons walked free. The two knobs then tried to sue me, but I beat that one fortunately.
Missed this "gem" earlier. Seeing as you have a firm grasp on the nuance of law enforcement in a heavy urban setting perhaps you could tell me the NY policing model and where you feel a different approach would yield better results I am sure that with you vast experience in POP, ILP, COP and RBP initiatives t a global level your insights would be fascinating
Hey, if there aren't enough cops to respond immediately to my beck and call I can handle it. But if I am taking the time to call in I expect the first reaction to be more comprehensive- just the basics. This way the officers do have a frame of reference should they be available. Personally, I think that there are more than enough cops in my neighborhood, frequently when I see them travelling on subways they can be in groups of 5-10. But regardless... they may have been stretched thin and that's fine. I just want the information to get out there so that the possibility of action is taken. And the feeling this gives me is that they don't care if I report something, so next time I wouldn't bother..
Dispatching the units is not a given - depending on time lapse, distance from scene by caller etc.., but purely from an evidential (and indeed disclosure) perspective the details of the caller should be obtained. I am with Kuma and suspect the call taker (typically civilian in case anyone wonders) just dropped the ball on this particular occasion.
Did you ask to file a report? Just keep in mind - officers only get calls from the 911 dispatcher. They're not getting them themselves. If we never get it, we never know to respond to it.
My issue is not with the cops it is with the decision of the 911 operator to hang up on me before I could even give a description. I don't think they should have decided to do that, I think they should have taken the details and if the cop had time to follow up then at least they have access to data.
100% agree NYPD has an ILP model and as such every call needs looking at even if it is just for statistical purposes. Not every call will get or even need a patrol to respond - this possibly being one of said calls - but there WAS an incident and it needs some record of occurrence. But if you actually look at SOP for this type of thing these incidents in larger forces are thankfully not too common.
In London ..active robbery victim and suspects gets an immediate attendance ...time frames and distances would be different in other force areas. I do agree there seems to have been a lacklustre response by the initial contact officer/ dispatcher..
"Active" being the key word - depending on the timescale this is historic, but still necessitates a response albeit lower grade
That remark was not to be taken seriously as it was a quip, and I have respect for law enforcement, however in this day and age it's guilty until proven innocent unfortunately.
Ok ill accept that I probably shot out the gate early on that one...smilies are useful you know! Mea culpa The reason I snapped on it was because it is the "stock response" from every unwashed dingbat and it gets a bit tiresome...I must add at this juncture I do not consider you unwashed or a dingbat! Aside from anything else it is far more likely to find me with a Donair and a root beer
