Surely we all have story's, some night mare ones to tell.
Once country town Australia could talk to a local exchange, even know who was on both ends of the line and get help quick.
Queensland's recent tragic events are just the latest,its an every day event, to have to answer silly questions that could wait.
Wait at least until help is dispatched.
The young man ringing to ask for help, lost in the bush in rouged country.
Again and again this near death poor kid was asked for nearest cross street.
Even threatened with being hung up on if he did not give it, he died there without help even starting to look for him.
As an emergency radio monitor on many bush rally and horse enduro I have always introduced myself to every one I may need to ask for help done the work up front.
Years of running the communications room for the Australian Iron man [not now it has moved] I have had to deal with death and every possible problem.
Nothing frustrates more than to need to talk to a Victorian, about the need for an Ambulance, parked one klm away at the hospital, for the eight minutes it took to explain this was urgent.

belly [in the middle of no-where
someone using the phone...wont be asked what street they are in

phones can be triangulated
at any given time our mobile phones
are known precicly where the phone is]

even better as long as there is a good battery in it
it is a bug...anyone knowing its number can listen in..i have previously posted the link/details..

emegency telephone rersponse..is only too easy
in normal times..[they got a majic book...
with the scripts all ready written..for every emergency

trouble being they dont use what they got wisely
times to revieve a reply in an emergancy
should be in seconds..

often..long minutes are wasted
..just trying to get through

there needs be instant response
advising them we know who you are
and where you are..[an ambulance is allready on its way]

there is nothing more you need top do
but if you dont now puch button one..we will send police too

ya gotta think smarter
catch up with teqnology
but were run by parties
doing god knows what
for who cares who..

they are too busy to think of
how to serve THE PEOPLE better

just criminalise their smoking
and get on with the nex big new tax

Dear Belly,

I guess we've been lucky because we live in an urban area and at times when we had to dial 000, we've had quick responses. We do have elderly mothers who we worry about though - however we've had to invest in monitoring systems that will react in cases of emergency. I also believe that there are all sorts of telephones that can provide automatic dialing (example, for the disabled, elderly et cetera) as required. I'm not sure however - how these things work in rural areas or what sort of systems are available in these areas in cases of emergency.

OUG yourself assurance is miss placed.
Those sitting in a call center are not possessors of such technology.
And my story was a factual one,one of thousands upon thousands.
We, each of us have an obligation, to speak clearly in to the phone or microphone.
To gather out thoughts before ringing, have details such as what the problem is, as near as possible the location, remember the call center may be in any state of the country.
And is more likely to be , panic, demanding instant aid, is not helping.
But be assured, no matter how well you do your job, it will not be easy to get help.
Suburban or rural, trained telephone operators are more interested in doting the i,s and crossing the t,s.
000 is not operating as it should.
My time as radio operator on events, and first response to road trauma has seen time and again reluctance from operators to act without doing the paper work.
I left an early, and once very big, radio group set up to help via radio,contact police or needed help.
I was tasked to ask every silly question of those in need then answer every one my self before help left on its way.
Regular feed back,shared by others say it is getting worse not better.
The police officer in QLD raging at a woman for seeking help in the flood, a woman who was dead within minutes adds substance to my complaint.

We should all make our selves aware of both sides of this issue.
Every day triple 0 calls are made, often by children mums and dads defend, even say not from this phone.
There can be no doubt it is known what phone made the calls.
Bored brats, in every age group do it for fun.
They in fact kill.
The reason we wait, fight and complain about poor response is blamed on those calls.
I do not believe it is the only reason, lack of commitment, training and skills by operators is my guess.
How ever training needs to come from those who understand the problem, not just teachers repeating written words.
That Triathlon,Australian Iron Man, every Ambo police and firey had my phone number I had theirs .
We said good day before and during the event.
Every food and drinks stop had a radio and talked to me.
But only half had training.
A competitor died,his daughter was competing, his son in law too, his wife waiting near my radio room.
After a general warning was put out by me, all radios stand by please medical emergency in progress.
One station came back trying to tell every one who the dead man was, I blocked the transmission and again asked for silence
An order came from a lady she could not wait,, because she was out of Bananas!
So lets fix it but play our part in it too.
This country can do much better in acting on emergency's and local knowledge is worth the costs what ever they are.

My most annoyed was being told I was about to be put on hold and asking not to be. I had woken up to see a tall man leaving the room, someone was in my house and I was alone clinging to the doorknob keeping the door closed with one hand and clutching the phone in my other hand.

Yep they put me on hold. Amazing how instantly and completely alone it makes you.

Turns out he’d walked in and nicked my handbag and then left the premises and the police dog found my stuff down the road. The cow that put me on hold I’d like to smack. She also kept telling me to speak up after I explained I was being quiet because I didn’t think he saw me wake up and I didn’t want him to know I was up and on the phone to the police. Duh.

Wow Belly, what did you say to banana woman?

The following website may be of interest:

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/water-issues/police-union-defends-triple0-operator-20110420-1doe4.html

In the floods at the start of the year my partner got separated from us. She has Cystic Fibrosis and has had a double lung transplant. Her drugs are keeping her alive and by being separated she obviously didn't have access to her anti-rejection drugs. After trying everything to get back she eventually called the emergency services as a last resort.

IT took them 12 hours of trying EVERY way they could to get to her and finally they did, through flood damaged devastation and storms.

My brother is also a paramedic. They are heroes.

Sure there's individual incidences of failure. The amount of work these people do and IMMENSE pressure they are under they deserve medals every day.

Dear StG,

I'm so glad that your partner made it back safely. Bless the rescuers, (and you and your family). To me - you sound like a
hero as well.

Take care,

StG Sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.
My story is not about Ambulance drivers Paramedics Police, it is not about my ex team mates in road rescue or any first response people.
I have spoken about the days I monitored radios, even in my bed 24/7
It was my job to ring my supervisor, rush to my car fitted illegal with RTA radio.
Call him from site and tell him EVERY THING needed to fix it, pick up the dead help the dieing /hurt spoken too about the trauma, police who broke down, had to give up work.
My road crews leaving work unable to live with the nigh mares, not in anyway not a war zone.
12 dead in 3 events in two weeks.
Even then,even if you had rang that call center 30/40/100 times you had to beg for help.
As you waited alone for next response and a truck or car crashed in to the already wrecked scene.
Call centers did not want to know, even hung up saying we already have that Sir.
Given the task 6 ham radio operators could do their job better.
Its a job call centers, only that, rules are barbed wire fences blood fear death and trauma needs our best efforts.
StG know this, at every dreadful event ,and I saw 73 dead body's,such as your family arrived while off duty within the first ten minutes and even the gentleman one minute from the Hospital saw a male Nurse take over from me in 4 minutes, he took the phone too and said the same rude words I did,useless B,s.
Jewerly, the next year same lady,late in event called for Bananas, stores truck beat me, gave her a spelling lesson.
No F in Bananas lady was his reply.

Again,
the symptoms of the response mentality are in-line with most other symptoms involving incompetence & gross neglect of decency.
We have, over the past few decades, bred a people with the mentality & moral of a hungry mongrel. It will become a lot worse if we don't introduce steps to stop this slide into utter hopelessness. A colleague was threatened with having her face smashed in with a stubby bottle whilst she was on the phone to the Police asking for assistance only to be told by the response officer that he couldn't justify the overtime for an officer to attend, 1km from the Police station. That was ten years ago, I dread to think what response she'd get now ? Probably the same as that poor mother & son in the Qld Floods recently. Why is this attitude so prevalent ? No-one demands any kind of discipline unless of course it affects them directly, then they scream discrimination. Mention National Service & they scream dictatorship. We need to work on finding a solution to reduce this incidence of mindless moron mentality. I'll keep pushing for a non-military national Service.

I am afraid that is a bit too harsh for me Individual.
I am very much aware my interest in the subject may well be stronger than most.
I have even had a nightmare about not being able to get the help needed.
But I do not think, never did, slackness is the problem.
Wrong people SOME TIMES,in the job, yes.
Poor training, yes.
Put cost savings on top, older folks know we once had ,even big city's, local operators.
They knew the police, the Ambos, the first response people to control traffic.
The NSW RTA has such an internal call center, it works.
In every job I ever had I knew of those who would not have a go, not put in, such jobs are not for them.
It is not illegal to monitor the police in NSW about 100.000 radio scanners have been sold in this country.
Are being used, remember,I think a good cop is worth far more than we can ever pay them.
But some calls,to domestic disputes, take many hours to answer, too many.
And with nothing but respect, white wash is the most used substance if a police man gets it so very wrong like the fool in QLD rarely will you find such a person found guilty, just moved.

I need to touch on the other side of this subject again.
The need to be fighting on the phone to get a woman to send help not continue the questions while some one is bleeding to death can be traced back to several things.
False alarms, the police get hundreds giggling kids,or kids in adult body's do it for fun.
The cry wolf mob are criminals, police basically know putting the fools in court is a waste of time.
We should deal harshly with every one of them, never let them walk away from such acts.
You can not over look some call center people, some women more often than not, grow in self importance and have no intention of understanding you are up to your elbows in blood and fear death and dieing,we must know the nearest cross road Sir!
On a bush road every cop every Ambo knows very well.
I hope no one reading this,ever has to call so very many times as I have,climb the barbed wires fences force your way around the ego,and tell the injured person help is on the way while hoping it is.
Remember too, you MUST take control talk clearly tell what you need and the place you are in,leave the panic till after the patent is on the way to hospital.

I've had to call 000 in Qld a number of times.

All for strangers. Once where I would have prefered to have a different number to call, the situation was not yet an emergency but looked like it was heading that way very rapidly.

In each case I've been very happy with the response. The operators were polite but effective.

The police have now advertised a general call number for call's which don't rate 000 which I've got stored in my mobile phone. That's a step forward. Policelink 131444 http://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/policelink/ There was a limited amount of TV and radio advertising some time back.

I do agree that as an outsider from the media reports I've heard sometimes they just seem to get it wrong but my impression is that mostly they do a great job.

R0bert

It's the crank call makers, the nuisance cry-wolf etc. who would be in my firing line for fast track on extra time into non-military Service. They would benefit as much as those who didn't get inconvenienced because the other lot is otherwise occupied. It would be the first step to the solution. How many such response operators are out there but luckily, haven't caused the headline like the flood victim one. Yes, they are inundated with calls but let's ask ourselves why are they inundated with calls ? Because people have become so incredibly useless that they clog up the emergency help lines simply because they can't get a peg off the clothes line.
I mean, has anyone ever made public some of those calls ? It's the same with the police. Try & get them to help you with an intruder, fat chance. Call them about someone walking home drunk & they're onto it. I know quite a few police officers who are just about in tears because their incompetent superiors won't let them deal with given situations. Why do we have such incompetent superiors ? Because their superiors haven't had any exposure to responsible thinking so therefore neither to those beneath them have either. Had they all participated in a national service they would have learnt to think a little more responsibly. I say, all those against a national service register yourself so that when you need help you'll have to cope with the situation you have contributed to in creating rather than get the assistance borne of responsible thinking by way of national service.

Bellybabe:”It is not illegal to monitor the police in NSW about 100.000 radio scanners have been sold in this country.”

But it isn’t possible with the encrypted (is that the right word) channels – digital stuff everywhere in NSW with the police I thought? But I heard you just listen in to the truckies cause they know everything.

No Jewerly not all over the state not all over Australia.
First a warning, some true idiots own scanners, it is a crime to interfere with an officer in doing his duty.
Idiots do, many trucks have scanners,some UHF radios have them built in.
In an event that a responsible operator hears , if unknown are listening she/he should turn it off or down.
And yes most are ok.
But be fair, was that officers response not dreadful.
As that young man near death begged for help [he died] was a better person likely to have saved him?
Have you actually been on that dreadful mountain at a multiple fatal, alone, and tried to work both the phone and injured and had a semi come out of the dark smash in to it all.
Then has a rude operator REFUSE TO BELIEVE a second event had taken place and hang up?
We are better than that,some would and do give free time to be there to help others too used to the foolish crank calls bet on real ones being crank, the chips are human life.

Another excellent issue/thread Belly to be addressed.

Approximately 15 years ago a man presented himself stabbed in the head (rural location although not remote/remote).

I contacted paramedics (these days I would choose the firies as their response time is quicker and more efficient) than paramedics more resources, less fire call outs as opposed to paramedics constantly attending accidents and call outs.

The crux of this story is that it took 15 minutes to explain the incident to the operator (glad that I had stabilised him prior to making the call). Although he wandered off down the dirt road disoriented which was placing him in danger of coming across the thugs again who had thrown him out the door on the highway in the first place.

I have also learned over past years when at home, to use local contact phone numbers for the Firies as opposed to OOO.

I have found Firies to be the best in handling accidents, communicating effectively, delivering first aid, directing the traffic to avoid second collisions from occurring, while waiting for paramedics

Weareunique thank you, for those not aware WAU is or was a police officer.
I too had those direct phone numbers ,some I still have, and before mobile phones monitored CB radio to be there to help.
Police gave me direct number to radio room after some tragic delays.
Ham operator now but still keep the old one on 24/7 never know.
It is much more real for you and I we have lived the nigh mare.
Local cop, great bloke, broke down mentality, he like me went to about 34 deaths in 16 months here.
Broke my heart home on leave, to hear him crack at the fatal that killed his best mates son.
We can do better, truly few know but volunteers go out broadcasting commonwealth bike rides rallies work in floods fire and tempest, fix and operate emergency service radio.
But with clear under standing transmitter calls for help without delays.
We need to focus on false alarms.
I found road workers,and paid town fire brigade workers made false calls for the extra pay.
Dealing in death a low act.

Hi Belly,

Where you got the idea of me being a police officer I have no idea.

I have worked with the police (am in another field) which relates to police and health, the police force not a career I would ever choose or have chosen, for a variety of reasons!

Another excellent thread Belly, keep them coming.

Sorry mate, you will remember the thread I mentioned the while I live I grow tree on razor back.
Some thing you said in that thread made me think that of you.
I could start a few threads about that area.
Bargo was my grandparents main home on mums side and spent time there.
Know the area very well once thought I would live my life out there.
Thread is about stopped but sadly we will revisit its subject often.
Have to wounder what was the exact year we began putting costs in front of human lives.
America was once known as the can do country,we too could do, with money and the right people.
Not holding my breath.
Costs need not blow out not be endless but service must improve.