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GrapevineSooner
4/14/2005, 01:15 AM
Apparently, this 911 caller is devoid of a sense of humor (http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/states/texas/northeast/11382144.htm).

Not to mention, she should also do a better job of controlling her kids.



Mom not laughing at 911 dispatcher's 'joke'

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By Leila Fadel
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Star-Telegram Staff Writer
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WATAUGA - Lori came home to find her daughters fighting that Monday evening. Her 12-year-old had kicked a hole in the door, and the girls were hitting and throwing things at each other. She feared one or both would be seriously hurt.

She called 911 and asked for help. Her 12-year-old daughter was out of control, she told the call-taker.

"OK. Do you want us to come over to shoot her?" the dispatcher asked, according to a recording released this week. For five seconds, the line went dead.

"Are you there?" the call-taker asked.

"Excuse me?" Lori said.

Mike Forbess, a dispatcher of five years for the Watauga Department of Public Safety, then told her he was joking and apologized. But Lori cannot get his comment out of her head.

"This is a slap in the face that my child was not important enough, my call for help, my 911 call was not important enough that he had to make a joke about it," Lori said Monday. She asked that her last name not be used to avoid identifying her daughters, one of whom has emotional problems.

Forbess immediately told his supervisor about the call. He received a letter of reprimand two days later. Forbess received a second letter of reprimand from Chief David Van Laar on Monday, the same day the Star-Telegram obtained a copy of the 911 call recording, and of Forbess' disciplinary records.

The mother, however, said her faith in the 911 system remains shaken. She said she plans to file a formal complaint.

"I do not have words to tell you how shocked I am that someone is allowed to do this," she said. "You don't do people like this, and then get a slap on the wrist."

In his letter to Forbess, Van Laar wrote: "This type of response cannot be tolerated, and this letter shall serve as notice that any future unprofessional responses while answering the 911 line will be cause for termination."

But the reprimand is not enough, the mother said.

The next time she has an emergency, she said, she won't feel safe calling 911.

"This man does need to be disciplined," Lori said. "How can a person in this line of work be so unfeeling that he asked a person who needed help, 'Would you like us to come over and shoot your child?'

Beano's Fourth Chin
4/14/2005, 01:16 AM
She never answered the question.

yermom
4/14/2005, 01:34 AM
i can't wait to have kids

GrapevineSooner
4/14/2005, 01:43 AM
I'll add that I'll bet that this isn't the first time she's picked up the phone to call the cops over what amounts to her refusal to be a 'tough love' parent. If my parents called the cops everytime my older brothers mixed it up, we'd have been on a first name basis with the cops of the Garland Police Department. :D

Frozen Sooner
4/14/2005, 01:46 AM
Perhaps if she wasn't such a terrible parent, she wouldn't have to contact the police to break up a fight between her kids.

sooner n houston
4/14/2005, 07:52 AM
Perhaps if she wasn't such a terrible parent, she wouldn't have to contact the police to break up a fight between her kids.

Exactly, learn to parent!

Did y'all hear about the woman in California who called 911 because the staff at Burger King couldn't get her burger right? I kid you not, really happened! :eek:

crawfish
4/14/2005, 07:55 AM
Perhaps if she wasn't such a terrible parent, she wouldn't have to contact the police to break up a fight between her kids.

Heh.

It'd be funny if she was fined for misusing the 911 system.

Widescreen
4/14/2005, 08:03 AM
This was discussed on the radio yesterday morning. There are people here in Dallas who are calling for the guy's head. He should be given a written reprimand or something but come on. If you hear the actual audio of the full conversation (which starts before the text above), she says that she just got home from work and her kids are out of control and kind of giggles. So I don't think she was totally distressed about all this. The thing that did get her upset was the guy's response to her giggle.

Sooner Born Sooner Bred
4/14/2005, 08:20 AM
I heard it twice and didn't hear a giggle. While the guy's comments were tasteless and he wasn't serious, they aren't something a 911 dispatcher should say to a caller.

KABOOKIE
4/14/2005, 08:29 AM
I agree it's something a 911 dispatcher shouldn't say but, losing his job? Gimme a break. Maybe we should be just as extreme and ask that this lady loses her kids.

Widescreen
4/14/2005, 09:48 AM
I heard it twice and didn't hear a giggle. While the guy's comments were tasteless and he wasn't serious, they aren't something a 911 dispatcher should say to a caller.

Agreed. The dude was way wrong in the way he handled it. And when she made an issue of it, he knew he was busted. But she did give a little Heh in there. I'll see if I can find a link to the audio.

BudSooner
4/14/2005, 10:10 AM
While she could have handled the situation by herself, the 911 operator should handle every call as if it is serious. He should receive a suspension, but not be fired.
Thank god this wasn't a call where someone could have died.
Remember the family in OKC that died due to having windows covered by bars, that operator could have handled things differently also.

Soonerchaz
4/14/2005, 10:10 AM
I heard this story and the actual call on the radio this morning. While the smart aleck in me chuckled at the 911 operator's comment...it was completely unprofessional and out of line. He should be reprimanded...but not lose his job. The punishment he received seems appropriate.

Pricetag
4/14/2005, 10:12 AM
I bet even if they fire the guy, it still won't be enough to restore her faith in the 911 system. I bet some $$$$ would restore her faith just fine.

TheHumanAlphabet
4/14/2005, 10:15 AM
boo-hoo-hoo crack ho. If you can't kick your own kids arse to make them fly straight, why would you expect someone else - let alone 911 do it? Hello idot, 911 is for EMERGENCIES! like life or limb!!!

RedStripe
4/14/2005, 10:16 AM
She should have called Jo

http://cctvimedia.clearchannel.com/supernanny.jpg

achiro
4/14/2005, 10:22 AM
Somehow, I think her "faith" will be restored if she ever has a real emergency. "Oh my God, my house is on fire what do I do?!?!"
Call 911
"Oh I can't do that because my faith has been shaken!"

BudSooner
4/14/2005, 10:31 AM
I bet some $$$$ would restore her faith just fine.
You have to wonder if this was the idea to begin with.

mdklatt
4/14/2005, 10:34 AM
The good old Watauga DPS. My family moved there in 1984. The movers were having trouble finding our house, so they happened upon the police/fire station and asked them for directions. The DPS guys had no idea where our street was because it was a new subdivision (not that new) and the maps hadn't been updated yet. Watauga is TINY. You could see the police/fire station from the roof of our house. :rolleyes:

MamaMia
4/14/2005, 10:39 AM
In some states parents are not allowed to spank their children.

mdklatt
4/14/2005, 10:41 AM
In some states parents are not allowed to spank their children.

Maybe, but Texas sure ain't one of 'em.

sooner n houston
4/14/2005, 10:41 AM
In some states parents are not allowed to spank their children.

Texas is not one of them! ;)

Scott D
4/14/2005, 10:43 AM
we call those Blue States. ;)

Frozen Sooner
4/14/2005, 10:56 AM
In some states parents are not allowed to spank their children.

There are other ways of disciplining a child.

However, if there's a state that has made corporeal punishment illegal, I haven't heard of it. Which isn't surprising, as I don't spend a lot of time researching it, but I'd sure like to see such a statute.

GrapevineSooner
4/14/2005, 11:01 AM
And on another note, when I first heard about this story last night during dinner with my in-laws, I seriously thought it was my neighbor that had called. :D

Sooner_Bob
4/15/2005, 07:34 AM
This reminds me of that 911 call I heard a while back on the "Mark and Brian" radio show out of LA.

This lady either called the PD or 911 about her cat and how she wanted it to be put down and call animal control and couldn't get anyone and the message said if it was an emergency that people should call the police. It was rather entertaining at the time.