9-1-1 as a 'Product'

 In the past week, I saw this discussion taking place....where folks were talking about the impact of calling 9-1-1, getting the police out to handle an immediate problem, and how chaotic situations are multiplying.

I grew up in a fairly rural area of NW Alabama in the 1960s/1970s, and frankly....the only occasion where my dad called the sheriff for an issue.....was the theft of a saddle.  That was it.  

If you drew a circle around the farm for five miles.....sheriff got called to handle drunks who whacked mailboxes....cattle who'd broken out of the fenced areas....threats by drunks on kin-folks....and cheating husbands who'd been kicked out of their house.  That was mostly it.

If I'd gone to the nearest urbanized area (20 miles away, the county seat)....the police force mostly handled traffic accidents....an occasional house-break-in....Halloween toilet-paper rolls....college dorm parties that got out of control....and one or two murders a year which were mostly where one relative cut-up or shot another relative. 

In the 1990s....things probably progressed up two or three notches.  Drugs played a major part in this.

Occasionally, you'd start to notice that you had a bad cop, or a cop who was tied to the drug scene themselves.  

In the past twenty years....in this rural region....9-1-1 gets called a fair bit.  Murders occur in the rural county on a regular basis, and mostly all connect back to some usage of drugs.  Home break-in's are way up....compared against the 1980s.....but a lot of these are worthless items stolen (a 8-year old chainsaw, a $300 6-year old mower, prescription drugs worth $100).  

If you go to some place like Memphis, Atlanta or Knoxville....there's probably thirty 9-1-1 calls (from each city) from Friday night to Monday morning....where a wild situation is being described by the caller (maybe at some bar or hotel), and the police are told ahead of time.....this is just not a 'safe' situation they are driving into.  

A lot of these calls relate to an argument that has arisen from the wife or ex-wife, and the potential threat from a husband/ex-husband....who might be drugged-up or a bit drunk.  

Maybe politicians don't think in this manner.....but 9-1-1 calls have become a product that is depended upon by society to a great degree.

Rural areas now affected?  I would suggest since the 1980s....most all rural areas are affected by the 9-1-1 calls, and more usage of drugs.  Police are affected by this.  You could get twenty calls from the 9-1-1 team over a week, and might luck out that they were accident-related, or lost kids.  But as each one of these violence-prone calls occurs.....you get drawn into more of these threat situations, and just keep wondering.....will you walk into a mess where you have to shoot some kid dead because of a stupid threat, or the kid holding a knife while under the influence of drugs? 

Improving?  No....that's the one part of this situation....it can only get worse.