Calling 911: Ok/ Calling 911 because your power is out and you're missing Leno: Bad

[Terminator]

Although some might view missing Jay Leno as an emergency, officials with the Mesa Police Department definitely don't agree.

But that didn't stop one Mesa man from calling 9-1-1 during Tuesday night's severe storm to report that he was missing the popular late-night comedian's show.

Click this .mp3 file link to listen to the 911 call

Here's a snippet of the conversation
Caller: Do you have any information about the blackout?
Dispatch: No, I don't. Do you have an emergency, though?
Caller: Yeah, I couldn't watch Jay Leno.

This non-emergency call has left police officials urging the public to keep in mind that 9-1-1 is solely for emergencies, according to a Wednesday morning press release.

"During thunderstorms like the one we experienced last night it is imperative callers speak with their utility provider, rather than 9-1-1 when there is a power outage, unless they have a police or fire emergency," according to the press release.

The storm brought a surge of 9-1-1 calls into Mesa dispatchers, tripling the call volume, according to Mesa Police.

Dispatchers received 441 9-1-1 calls and 901 non-emergency calls totaling 1,342 calls Tuesday night between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. A week ago Tuesday, 472 calls were received; 121 9-1-1 calls and 351 non-emergency calls.

[CountyFourteen]

duh

[Standard Dave]

It's not on fire I know I will call the police it's their job to sort stuff out

[CountyFourteen]

last shift I worked we had two 911 calls for "someone knocking at the door" guess they never heard of answering the door?

[dadyswat]

I question normally went something like "Is the power out?", "When will it back on?" You know what you would just love to say.

[Radar]

last shift I worked we had two 911 calls for "someone knocking at the door" guess they never heard of answering the door?

I work a security job in the neighboring richer than average city of Germantown, TN. They get calls all the time from residents for stupid stuff like that...

"There's a man with a clipboard and a MLGW Utility Company Shirt going door to door ringing peoples doorbells and looking in their side yards, can you send police? I think he's casing the place."

No one ever answers the door, no one asks through the door what they need, they just pretend no one is home and call the police.

Often times, they'll call just on skin color.

I've often heard the call go out "caller reports several hispanics in his neighbor's backyard, and one of them just took a lawnmower out of the backyard and put it in their truck"

I've always found it amusing that the caller has a tendency to neglet to mention that the truck is a landscaping truck, and his neighbor doesn't own a lawnmower. It's also amazing that the caller wouldn't call his neighbor first.

Yes, it's possible that those calls could be a clever ploy and a true need for police is warranted, but these calls go out everyday, and I haven't seen just cause for the call yet!

[KaiGywer]

Although some might view missing Jay Leno as an emergency, officials with the Mesa Police Department definitely don't agree.

But that didn't stop one Mesa man from calling 9-1-1 during Tuesday night's severe storm to report that he was missing the popular late-night comedian's show.

Click this .mp3 file link to listen to the 911 call

Here's a snippet of the conversation
Caller: Do you have any information about the blackout?
Dispatch: No, I don't. Do you have an emergency, though?
Caller: Yeah, I couldn't watch Jay Leno.

This non-emergency call has left police officials urging the public to keep in mind that 9-1-1 is solely for emergencies, according to a Wednesday morning press release.

"During thunderstorms like the one we experienced last night it is imperative callers speak with their utility provider, rather than 9-1-1 when there is a power outage, unless they have a police or fire emergency," according to the press release.

The storm brought a surge of 9-1-1 calls into Mesa dispatchers, tripling the call volume, according to Mesa Police.

Dispatchers received 441 9-1-1 calls and 901 non-emergency calls totaling 1,342 calls Tuesday night between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. A week ago Tuesday, 472 calls were received; 121 9-1-1 calls and 351 non-emergency calls.

Ehm, your link is missing ...

[TXCharlie]

When my wife worked at the Information Desk for another city, she got transfers from 911 operators who got calls about Cable TV going out during the O.J. Trial - A truck had hit a power pole along I-35