The car is now gone. One of the Yale Officers suggested having a place where there are on duty times and their cellphones could be listed so they could get calls from citizens when non-emergency is slow to take calls. In this case they showed me that the call did not go out till the third time I called 1/2 hour after the guy was caught in the act.

It is true that the non emergency system here is quite slow. I called over the summer about my house being broken into and 2 1/2 hours later, someone showed up. While I realize it was not an emergency, that is a long time to sit in my house wanting to clean up what the burglars messed up and couldn't.

I was told by the CAO yesterday that it is really important to report when you have an issue with non-emergency. The calls are recorded and call takers can be disciplined if the call was not conducted in the proper manner such as this one. In this case the mistake was that the calltaker treated my call as an incident as opposed to a call in progress.

The Jetta belongs to my friend who was visiting me. What time exactly did this occur? I may ask my building to pull camera footage if possible.

I called NHPD at exactly 3:32 PM on Sunday while the criminal was leaving the scene. I'm sorry to hear about your friend's car.

Thanks! We really appreciate you reporting and attempting to pursue him. There isn't much we can do without the support of the police.

Hi. I am the owner of the Jetta. Thank you so much for doing all that you could to help with me with this situation. That duffel bag belonged to my deceased father and meant more to me than anyone could ever understand. I carried it my car and used it because it belonged to him. I am offering a $500 reward for the return of my Dad's duffel bag with no questions asked. Please contact me here if you know anything about the whereabouts of my duffel bag.

I'm so sorry to hear that. I lost my dad recently and understand what its like to have attachment to his belongings. The City has a traffic camera that should identify the face very well. I believe you can request the tapes from the traffic and parking folks. Also, he did go past the dumpsters at cafe nine and it might make sense to check the dumpsters there.

The Officer was given the call in the same minute he became free from the call he was on when THIS was called in, twenty minutes later. The first call, he took an hour to write by the way, so he was NOT in service at the time.

These officers would NEVER give their personal cellphones to anyone, to even think they would is totally naive.

And the reason they tell you to stop chasing someone is for YOUR safety (and the safety of those around you) as the first operator explained to you. As she tried to get information, you refused to answer her questions, remember? YOU then disconnected with the operator, called 911 and were transferred back to the police again as is protocol. You delayed the transfer of information, you delayed the dispatch. Try telling the truth Ben.

Tell The Truth, I have four police officers phone numbers in my phone right now for this exact reason. There is nothing naive about it. Its reality and I'm guessing a number of other folks do as well. I am meeting with the Police Officer who suggested this idea on Friday so please don't call me a liar. The crime was in progress and you treated it as an incident so I disconnected to call 911. You are not required to take my phone number or my identity to make a call to an Officer for a crime in progress. Both the Yale Officer and the New Haven Officer that arrived were shocked that the call had just came in after the second call I made where I did give you the full information required for an incident.

You don't need to defend yourself Ben. It's obvious by you're willingness to share more details after that you had only the best intentions, despite the resistance your received.

I hope you make a complaint about the way the call was handled and about how this dispatcher used ClickFix to publicly berate you. It seems like a violation of your rights for this "insider" to discuss the call in this public forum.

NHPD should really think about the message they're sending to the good people who do report crimes.

Thanks FOJ,
I did send an email yesterday to the Chief Administrative Officer with the time and detail of the call as I was requested to. I appreciate the call taker standing up for themselves but the tone they are taking with me here might discourage others from calling which is really concerning.

I have asked the Acting Director of the 911 Center to look at this call. Call-taking and dispatching are hard jobs, and the vast majority of staff are terrific. That said, if anyone has a bad experience with 911 or non-emergency, please, please report it to 203-946-6234/6236 and/or post it on SeeClickFix. We take complaints very seriously, and they can be very helpful in pointing out additional training or changes to procedures that may be necessary, or discipline where appropriate.

- Rob Smuts, Chief Administrative Officer

FOJ, Ben identified himself as the caller not thedispatcher. He also trashedthe dispatcher first for doing his job, asking the questions he is supposed to and give it to the dispatcher on the radio. If Ben isnt afraid to be true, then ask for his call and play it so we can all hear and decide for ourselves.

So seeclick can only be used to bash and destroy the reputations of the dispatcher department but it cant be used for their defense? it's because they think no one is ever going to defend themselves and no one will defend them either that the people who post talk so bad about them. Sometimes they defend the police but they never defend the dispatchers, so everyone bullies and trashes them. They do a very hard job and we should be grateful for their work.

I say let the dispatcher speak and stop threatening to "report" him. doesn't he have freedom of speech too?

Thanks for taking the time to file the report Rob. I agree that there are many good folks working in the non-emergency call center and have also had many pleasant experiences. I appreciate the encouragement for feedback and to help improve the call center where there are week points.

@ to FOJ,
I described an experience I had and suggested that something needed to be done about NHPD non-emergency. I posted on SeeClickFix in hopes that I would be able to connect the victim to the theft on a timely fashion as their window was open and it was beginning to rain. The Officer also waited around to connect to the victim. In the end you can see that the intent was validated by the resolution of the victim communicating here. Had the victim known that their car was broken into sooner they could have met the Officer sooner and the Officer, to your point, could have been on their way sooner to the next call.

The opinion that something needs to be done has to do with vast recounts of stories similar to mine that also reflect the need for improvement in the communication of at least one of the call-takers. In this case, as a further example, the individual argued with me about the location of a landmark I was referencing as opposed to listening to me give the pertinent information to a crime in progress. Specifically the call taker asked me where the vehicle was located. I said "in front of the CO OP on Chapel." The individual then told me that there was no Co-OP on Chapel. I had to explain to the individual that I was talking about Chapel and State's Co-Op not the old Yale Book Store which I can only assume she was referencing. There is no chapel Street address for that entire block where the Co Op is so citing the store name was the best I could do in the moment. The location of the vehicle should not have been the top priority at this time regardless and it was frustrating to be focusing on the incident with a fleeing suspect.

Please also keep in mind that I was being lectured by an impolite public employee as a member of the public performing a task which we as citizens have to be constantly encouraged to do because so many are discouraged by calls exactly like the call I was having...all while witnessing someone get away with a broad daylight break-in on a block that I spend most of my life on.

What frustrated me more is that that the location of the criminal fleeing on foot is the pertinent information for the crime in progress and this is what I was trying to relay. The longer the call taker went through the incident before calling an Officer to the location of the criminal the longer I felt responsible to follow the criminal. What's even more frustrating is that PD explained to me that there had been four other break-ins downtown this past weekend but most of them will go undocumented as the process to file the report that creates the public record is cumbersome. My past experience with car break-ins as supported by many police officers is that they are usually done by one or two individuals in a spree. My understanding is that the call-taker is paid to help the general public in New Haven and keep us safe. I also have no responsibility as a citizen to empathize with the call taker though the call taker certainly has a responsibility to empathize we me as a citizen. In reality I do empathize with the majority of public servants and find that I am treated with respect and the outcomes are favorable. This was not the case here and I'm confident that any citizen and most public servants would feel the same.

I'd share with you the number of times I've hit the 'thank you' button on SeeClickFix as well but we don't map that data to individual users yet.

As a side note its great to see the police documenting street lights that are out on SeeClickFix as well as taking reports. Its a great example that accountability works both ways. In that light I am holding myself accountable to the call taker by having the conversation publicly and taking the mild accusation and insult. I don't think I have to do that as a citizen but I do want more of my neighbors to speak up when they see something wrong so I'm going to continue to do so myself.

Thanks,
Ben

To Ben,

As a dept employee and a resident, I can see both sides, if I may comment? Without fear of reprisals at my job?

I understand your desire to catch the "bad guy" may have given you tunnel vision at the time and may have fueled your first post where you blamed the call taker for the person eluding arrest. It's a natural and normal response to a difficult situation. We know most people call the department with an "attitude", it's because they aren't having a good day and we are convenient. It comes with the territory and something we all understand. It's not always easy on us, we are after all still human and being called all kinds of names does wear thin after 14 hours (NOT that you did this at all!!). But as a whole, we do our very best to assist regardless of the demeanor of the caller. And then people complain we don't care enough...

Unfortunately what you may not understand is the call taker has to remain detached, regardless of what is being reported. It's the only way he/she can do their job effectively and the only way to help the callers. Two emotional people will not get the job done.

What is the job? The call taker is required to ask as many questions as it takes to get a FULL picture, both for the caller's safety and for the safety of the responding personnel. The call taker enters this information SIMULTANEOUSLY into the system which instantly transfers that information to the DISPATCHER who sends the officers out. The call taker may seem to be doing "nothing" but that is not true at all, the only delay in relaying this information to the dispatcher is when callers don't answer the questions and instead argue with the employee.

Now, I have not heard the call, so I am reserving judgement until I do. This is what I believe @FJO was trying to say, the readers here (some not all) jumped to join the crucifying of the call taker without knowing exactly what the circumstances are.

You are absolutely correct, as a citizen you have no obligation to be respectful or even helpful during your call for assistance, but as a seeclick ADMIN, you have a responsibility to your readers. They take your word as gospel and as such you hold a HIGH level of responsibility.

Many times, callers are in such a state when they call they may not even remember the call exactly as it occurred, again, this is normal. Once they hear the call for themselves, they recant their complaint. AGAIN, not saying this is the case andyou are wrong and he/she is right. I'm just saying, maybe we can all take a deep breath and reserve judgement.

About the calltaker telling you to stop pursuing the bad guy, that is absolutely the right thing to tell you. That is for YOUR SAFETY, because nothing, NO material item, regardless of it's monetary or sentimental value is worth your life! Had Zimmerman only listened to the dispatcher a tragedy may have been avoided (regardless of who you think was at fault). I am very sorry for the owner's loss of a special item dear to his heart, but I am sure I am correct in saying not even he would want you to be injured trying to recover it.

I believe the frustration comes for the instant "let's blame the calltakers/dispatchers" and light the torches response. No one ever says the call taker did a fabulous job, it's always someone else's praise that is heaped.

(by the way, did you ever hear a police officer tell you, "no, the dispatchers do a great job, it's MY fault I was not doing my job?" pretty silly to think they wouldn't throw someone other than themselves under the bus don't you think? Even my kids would point at each other when something was broken in the house! The difference is, they are constantly having/holding press conferences, they are out there in the public and can say/do anything while we cannot. We are not allowed to defend ourselves except anonymously, and even then we are threatened with exposure. How long before you release the sign up information to the city for the people who have posted defending themselves?)

And while we do not do it for the praise, it gets tiresome to get kicked all the time, especially if we feel we did nothing wrong. (again, I have not heard the call, so I do not know if that is the case....honestly, it's probably a little bit of both)

I find it's never black and white, but all shades of grey. We don't like for the bad guy to get away either and we LOVE when they get caught, even better when we helped them get caught. I've been on the other side calling for help and I know how hard it is to focus on giving the required information clearly and quickly...and I work here!! So, I see your side, but I also see his.

signed,
a humble servant of my community (no, that's not sarcasm, I'm being honest!!)

We have investigated allegations of wrongdoing pertaining to this car-break in call. We have reviewed the audio recordings of the calls. We are dealing with our call taker internally, and instituting better policies for proper handling of future incidents. We feel there were several factors that contributed to the dispatch delay, including inaccurate locations given by the caller, and a lack of cooperativeness and understanding of the process of reporting an incident in New Haven. We are working on improving our relationship with the community and raising awareness on the appropriate use of the 911 system.
It is an industry-wide policy to protect the caller and advise them not to chase after dangerous criminals. Meanwhile, we understand the stress involved in reporting a crime and the gratification of seeing swift justice. We ask that you stay on the line with the call taker while they ask you a variety of pre-approved questions to ultimately give first responders the information they need prior to arriving on scene. The information the caller provides allows the call taker to classify and prioritize the incident.
In the future, we request the public call the Communications Supervisor’s line, 203-946-6321 to make any immediate complaints about the handling of calls to the 911/non-emergency center.

Thanks for the response and the discipline internally. To clarify I was not 'chasing' the individual. I followed at a safe distance and did not increase speed when the individual did the same.

Also, as validated by the Officer, the Downtown DM and the CAO a crime in progress is not an incident. We can agree to disagree on how I handled my end of the call but the part about treating a crime in progress as an incident is not refutable and I want to be on record as such as its what guided my interaction with the call-taker.

RE: Tell the Truth's claim: "These officers would NEVER give their personal cellphones to anyone, to even think they would is totally naive. "

Over the last 6 years living in East Rock, and looking out for neighbor's/reporting minor crimes, 5+ NHPD (officers, LT, Detective) have either given me their cell phone numbers OR called me from their cell phones when they were outside, ready to file a report.

Some officer's *do* give their cell phone numbers out.

Sorry but your predecessors at your job were so rude and obnoxious all the time that we expect the same questions like, so he hit you, what do you want us to do about it. So it was a gun, sounds like you provoked the situation, we don't respond to those types of complaints, you shouldn't have defended yourself, are you sure there breaking in to the house, we won't go back to that address anymore etc...