LA Sheriff's Office a Bad Joke

I'm not one to condemn the police. They put their butts on the line, daily, to protect us from stupid people. But, in my experience, when someone calls to report a felony, then the police should, you know, respond.

Especially if it's a hit-and-run.

Oh, yes, my friends. You will not find this in the media...yet. I do hope my friend (yes, the Rogue Assassin has them) contacts the local media on this one....

On Thursday, my friend--we'll call her Aisley--was walking across a street in San Pedro to get to her next bus stop on her way to work. She was in the crosswalk, ya know, where you are supposed to cross a street? A car hit her--to the point that Aisley flew up onto the hood, hit the windshield, then rolled off and onto the street, sending her shoes in opposite directions. The woman driving got out of her car and asked Aisley if she was okay.

Here's where it gets REALLY good...

Aisley moaned and looked up at her and said, "No, I'm not okay..."

The woman looked at her and said, "Well, you look fine to me and I'm in a hurry," got back in her car and drove away!

First of all.... HELLO?! You just freaking HIT a PEDESTRIAN with your CAR!?!?!?!?!?! How in Bixby's Nine Hells would that person be okay?! My SO is fairly certain that he'd have ripped the license plate off the woman's car. Aisley, however, wouldn't have been able to do that, anyway.

Second of all.... SHE TOLD YOU SHE WAS, in fact, NOT OKAY! It's only a small fine if you stay. It's a felony if you leave. Which would you prefer? Jail time or a ticket?

Unfortunately, Aisley didn't get the license plate number. Fortunately, she did get a very good description of the car and the driver. She called the police to report the incident. Remember she was the one who was hit by the car. She waited for 2 hours and the police still hadn't shown up.

I'll let that sink in.

The victim of a FELONY called to report said felony to the police who, for whatever reason, chose NOT to go to the scene of the crime! How is this "To serve and protect" if you get to choose what's important enough to you to show up to. "Meh....she called us, so, obviously she's not hurt...."

Bull.

Aisley has no health insurance.

She needs medical attention, but can't get X-rays because she can't afford them. She needs a cat scan to make sure she doesn't have brain damage of any kind. She can't afford it. She needed to go to a hospital--she couldn't afford it. Instead, she took herself to the police station to file a police report. She, who was injured, went to the cops she had called two hours prior--who were NOT injured--and filed the report there.

If you're not as raving mad as I am over this...wait til it happens to you or your friends.

Do me a favor, folks. Make this go viral. LA County's Sheriff's department is slacking...and it's getting worse. Media attention to this is a must. Let's get the word out and make a change for the better.

911 Emergency...or Not

So, I already have issues with this wonderful "service" called "9-1-1." See, in theory, it's a great idea. You are having an emergency--fire, heart attack, vandalism, rape, etc--and you dial this number, get a dispatcher, tell them the nature of your emergency and they dispatch the appropriate people.

In actuality, this doesn't seem to happen as frequently as we'd like. You dial 9-1-1 and get a busy signal. Or the phone rings off the hook. Or you're on hold for an eternity. The list can go on and on. But, what's highly unacceptable is this situation.

Since I know you all have a phobia of links, I'll summarize. A college student was being attacked--like stabbed attacked--in her apartment, so she called 9-1-1. The police didn't show up for 48 minutes. Wait, it gets better! The 9-1-1 dispatcher said that he did not hear anything that would indicate an emergency.

Let me rephrase: The EMERGENCY LINE DISPATCHER took an EMERGENCY CALL from someone being STABBED TO DEATH and did not hear anything that would indicate an emergency.

I can see where there may have been some confusion, I suppose. I mean, 21-year olds call 9-1-1 all the time to report being attacked, when in fact, they're just prank calling to waste time.

Forty-eight minutes.

Needless to say, she was dead by the time the police got there and her fiance--who had been at work--had come home to discover her dead on the floor of the apartment. If I were her fiance, I'd be askin' for the name of that dispatcher and suing him til the end of eternity. THAT is worth a lawsuit. Negligible homicide, accessory after the fact, wrongful death... I'm sure there's a bunch of things that could be tacked on to that lovely little suit.

But, let's look at this on the grander scale.

If dispatchers are now able to determine that a person calling in isn't really in danger, despite what they're saying, why should we have a 9-1-1 call center? Seriously! If someone's stabbing me and I'm saying, "Send the freaking police!" I probably don't mean send them in an hour. I probably mean send them five minutes ago. And while I'm lying here being stabbed, go ahead and send an ambulance, too.

Much easier to just dispatch than to not and have your pants sued off--or have people like me sit here and type about how stupid you are. Really. They record those 9-1-1 calls, you know. And, just in case you didn't realize it, SHE WAS SCREAMING. I can't imagine why should would be screaming if she was only being stabbed--I mean, that's not a real emergency, is it? It's not like she was in pain or anything.

Whatever. Do it right or don't do it at all. I can't say anything more on this because I'm starting into broken record syndrome. Don't worry, though, I'm sure I'll have another blast of stupid for you soon.