People's Republic of Kalifornia to Charge to Call 9-1-1

[flagtag]

Think of the homeless, pennyless person who manages to dial 911 (?). How do they collect if he dies? (Yes, it seems that some people who "can't afford" something else can find a way to pay for a phone.)

 

[gmviso]

As far as I know the great city of Fort Wayne is trying to extort money for 911 calls too! These politicians are just addicted to spending money!

 

[Bull]

Anyone still sporting their "Not My Man Mitch" bumper stickers?

Yep

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

I'm in for a butt kicking, but I agree with the 911 fee. 911 gets so many frivolous calls, that the good ones can't get through. People will call 911 to ask for the bus schedule, the time, to complain about bad service at McDonald's, etc. I think that people who use 911 in such a completely stupid way should be cited and fined. It's the only way to help the guy in the mall having a heart attack, or the lady who's alone at home and hears a bad guy rattling her door knob.

ghunter, no butt kicking from me, but I do disagree with you.

There are laws and rules against abusing the 911 system, and many have seen or heard about the woman that recently called 911 because her burger was prepared wrong and she didn't feel that the restaurant was adequately righting the wrong for her. Last I read, she was arrested.

From the article, I am smelling a political ploy or agenda of some sort. Muncie was considering turning off 50-80% of its streetlights due to a budget shortfall that "couldn't be made up from other areas of the budget," but suddenly, just before Christmas, the money was found. My opinion was that it was a scare tactic by some in the .gov. This seems similar.

Everything I see in this plan is a negative, from crime not being reported, emergencies not being reported in a timely manner, etc.

As an aside, I wonder if this effects wireless (cellular telephone only) households?

 

[Scutter01]

A friend told me that at his EMS job, he's responded to a particular patient three times IN ONE (12-hour) SHIFT!

In my previous job (for a government contractor, although it's not relevant), we had to cut off support to one our users after we audited his calls and realized he had called the help desk over six hundred times in the preceding four month period. Sometimes the complaints were legitimate, but more often than not they were just whiny complaints. After having to deal with him for so long, I'm pretty sure we were the only ones in the company who would speak to him (and then only because we were required to), so I'm convinced he was just lonely. He cost the company a small fortune in support fees as a result.

 

[smokingman]

T-mobile charges for 911 calls already. $4.99 per call.I have used mine twice to call 911 and been billed both times.Once was a for a teen who had crashed his car into a telephone poll,the other was a collapsed elderly jogger.In both situations ems arrived(I waited) and things turned out ok.I do not think it is right to charge for trying to help,be it the government or a cell phone carrier.

 

[Bill of Rights]

T-mobile charges for 911 calls already. $4.99 per call.I have used mine twice to call 911 and been billed both times.Once was a for a teen who had crashed his car into a telephone poll,the other was a collapsed elderly jogger.In both situations ems arrived(I waited) and things turned out ok.I do not think it is right to charge for trying to help,be it the government or a cell phone carrier.

The difference is that it's a lot easier and far less expensive to change cell carriers.

I'm curious if you've lodged a written complaint with the carrier, as well as if you've checked into how soon you can change carriers without cost to you at all. The nice thing is that you can usually even keep your phone number when you switch.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[Fletch]

All government "services" should be paid for with user fees and/or voluntary donations. Taxation is theft.

 

[dross]

The real danger of this is calling for help for a stranger.

What we're seeing in California is our future if we're not careful. They've reached the point where politically they must have all these programs, policies and regulations that are not sustainable because of what they cost. Now they look at every crazy way they can save money except the obvious one: repeal all that crap that makes your state such a financial mess. Of course, they can't do that politically now, so they just do things like blame busines and then regulate and tax them more, which furthers their problems. They are about twenty to thirty years ahead of where we are. In thirty years, California may be like Michigan - economically ruined with no hope of recovery.

 

[dross]

All government "services" should be paid for with user fees and/or voluntary donations. Taxation is theft.

Does that include defense?

 

[Fletch]

Does that include defense?

It does. If the military needs cash, it can sell off its outdated hardware instead of destroying it. Or hold a bake sale.

Imagine for a moment that the >50% of your income that you lose to taxes every year were returned to you. I'm sure we'd all find a government program or two worth supporting with voluntary donations out of a portion of that. Judging by the character of this board, gun owners everywhere are probably good for prisons and military, at the very least.

Churches provide a variety of services to their local communities (the good ones do, anyway), but are run entirely on donations because people see value in what they do. It tends to keep them lean, effective, and on-mission, because their donations will dry up and blow away if they're not. I've never seen good argument for why the government shouldn't operate by the same standard.

 

[printcraft]

Geez this guy in the mall is having a heart attack, but I don't have $300. I guess I'll just let someone else call 911. WTF?

Unintended consequences. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that is exactly
what will happen in some circumstances.
"Man that dude been shot.... Charlie call 911"
"No way.. you call ...I ain't gettin' no bill for dis' fool"
"Man somebody call da' amberlamps"

I don't have much faith, sorry.

In my previous job (for a government contractor, although it's not relevant), we had to cut off support to one our users after we audited his calls and realized he had called the help desk over six hundred times in the preceding four month period. Sometimes the complaints were legitimate, but more often than not they were just whiny complaints. After having to deal with him for so long, I'm pretty sure we were the only ones in the company who would speak to him (and then only because we were required to), so I'm convinced he was just lonely. He cost the company a small fortune in support fees as a result.

Well then, you have been perfectly trained to be a mod on INGO.

(presses report post button)

 

[5.56'aholic]

It seems a political move. The politicians over there say that if they have to cut the budget, police and fire will have to suffer...

Looks like they're more intent on saving (cronies) than people...

sounds just like St. Joe county to me.........

 

[Scutter01]

Well then, you have been perfectly trained to be a mod on INGO.

Not to get too far off-topic, but one call was a complaint that his two monitors weren't color-matched and they were causing eye strain. No amount of color adjustment would make him happy. We eventually attached a color palette sensor to the screens to measure the RGB value of the colors being displayed and discovered they were virtually identical. That little escapade ran close to $700 after all the techs' time and hardware involved. That was fairly typical of his waste-of-time calls. They would be incredibly complicated but ultimately completely pointless.

 

[henktermaat]

Retarded.

Just start charging for non-emergency calls... That'll send a harsh message to the people abusing 911.

 

[jedi]

Wow what a great idea!
Lets see Population of Tracy, CA = 81,714 as of 2009. Now if the avg. family is 2 adults, 2 kids we take the population and divide by 4 so we have 20,428.5 or round up 20,429. So 20,429 x 48 (per year) = $980,592 in revenue for the town.

Hotdog! I need to go get elected in that town. I'm sure as a local councilman, heck even mayor, I'll be able to get a pay raise since they have all this extra income now.

Hum.. better yet let me pass this idea to King Daley in Chicago. I'm sure he could use the added money as well. I'm in the wrong line of work. There is so much $$$ o be made off the backs of the American people. I need to run for office.

 

[j706]

Charging fees for something that we already pay for is plain wrong. Fire departments have been doing it for years. A few years ago we had a officer injured in a crash while on duty. Would you believe our own (Same City) fire department billed the man for 450.00?!! Total BS!! We also have the problem with a new centralized dispatch. Our entire county is now forced to use it. They had the gall to attempt to charge all agency's up to 15.00 per incident. Mark out for paper work via MDT-15.00!! Traffic stop=15.00 Anything that draws an incident number=15.00. BS!

Public safety agency's are paid through taxes. If a entity can't run on the tax base,start cutting back. Fire departments are by far the worse IMO. No fiscal responsibility at all. They send 20 ton latter trucks to slip and falls to justify them having the thing...JEEZZZ!!

The OP was about Ca. but it is happening in your own state. If they need to charge a fee, charge the D--- A---- that dial 911 for lock outs ect.

 

[homeless]

Fletch has the right idea on this one. I have no problem with billing for 911 calls, but that needs to be their sole source of income; not a mix between this, property taxes, and 911 fee on your phone bill.