911

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1:23You'll be amazed what a 911 operator go through. I then had calls where someone is breaking into the house, and they're saying, help me please. And they're in the closet, quiet, whispering, and you can hear the noise in the background. But you're trying to keep this person calm and let them know we're on our way. I'm hitting mute to tell my dispatcher what all I hear, you know, while taking a call. Terry Clark has been answering 911 calls in New Orleans for 25 years. Believe it or not, actually, when you did the application, The name of it at the time was Police Complaint Operator. So I really thought I was at a job that was going to take complaints.

2:23But on my first day, when I arrived, I realized it was 911. And I was like, wow, I got a real serious job. So if I were to call 911 right now and you were to answer, what would you say first? And I do this every day. New Orleans 911 was the location of your emergency. So I give you my address, and then what? Can you verify your address for me? My address is, I'll just make something up, 123 Stone Street. 123 Stone, okay. What's your name? Phoebe. Okay, Phoebe, can I have a callback number in case we disconnect? 210-123-456. So I'm looking at my screen to verify that's the same address. If it is, now tell me what's your emergency.

3:23So I very thankfully haven't had to call 911 that many times in my life, but I do think that all I would keep asking you is, is someone on the way? And so when somebody. Yes, Phoebe, someone is on the way. But yes, you're still going to say, but are they on the way? You're asking too many questions. That's what I get in my ear all day. Yes, I know it seemed like a lot of questions, but they're on their way. We just need to get through this. And I need you to make sure you have your door unlocked. Put away any pets. Have someone to flag down EMS, you know, well, the responder when they come there.

4:03But I also need you to answer these questions for me. We're getting the information because we need it. We're not just asking questions to be talking to you. And then at the end, I'm going to tell you, if anything gets worse, call us back. And I always like to tell my callers, thank you for calling. Today, a conversation with a 911 operator about what happens on the other end of the line and about what happens when you realize you recognize the voice on the phone. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal.

4:52In medieval times, if you had been robbed or attacked or witnessed a crime, you would raise something called the hue and cry. which was basically a shout for help. Anyone nearby who heard it was expected to stop whatever they were doing to help you and try to catch the suspect. Anyone who didn't join would be punished. Later, different alert systems were developed. Watchmen patrolling the streets in the late 1700s carried wooden rattles to use if they spotted a fire. Anyone who heard it, both citizens and volunteer firefighters, would grab any equipment they had and run in the direction of the noise.

5:37In 1828, Philadelphia developed a system using a special bell in the statehouse steeple. A watchman would ring the bell two times if a fire was south of the statehouse, three if the fire was to the east, and so on. But finding the exact location of the emergency with these kinds of systems wasn't easy. In the mid-1800s, the recent invention of the telegraph inspired a new system in Boston. Boxes were installed around the city that were wired to a central office. If someone needed help, they could turn a crank on one of the boxes, which would send a signal to the central office and indicate exactly where the alarm was being rung.

6:23You can still see some of these boxes on the streets of Boston today, and they still work. This alarm box system spread around the country. And then, in the late 1800s, people began installing telephones in their homes. But we didn't get a universal number for emergencies in the United States until 1968. The number 911 was chosen because it was easy to remember and short, which was especially important when most phones were rotary phones, and it took longer to dial each number. It was also unique. There wasn't already a 911 area code, and they hoped people might remember it. At the time, one member of the FCC said that 911 was going to be better known than 007.

7:16But it didn't take off right away. Almost 20 years later, in 1987, only 50 % of the country was using 911. Today, about 240 million calls are made to 911 a year, most of them from cell phones. But a lot of people call 911 when they don't actually need to. And sometimes, someone calling 911 can lead to a response that turns something that's not an emergency into one. The 911 system has been criticized for having a police-first emergency response model. and dispatching police to situations that don't involve a crime or violence. Terry Clark says she gets all kinds of calls. She says sometimes they're from people who are just worried and don't know what to do.

8:12I hear 911 calls with teenager moms all the time where I can relate, and I know it's against protocol, but, you know, you might say, I have a child your age, I understand. Terry's daughter, Tania, is 17. That's one of the calls where you say, I understand what you're going through, but try this. But anyway, or maybe they might call for EMS, and they're calling back because they've been waiting so long. You might give them an idea. Ma 'am, do you have a family member or a neighbor that might can take you to the hospital since EMS is not available at this time? And, you know, oh, baby, I never thought about that.

8:56Let me go ask my neighbor. So, hey, one last call we have to go to, and they go into the emergency room. How do you keep yourself calm when you're talking to someone who's in a really, who's actually in a very big crisis? I have to set the tone for them. and if they're hysterical and I'm hysterical, we're not going to get anything, you know. We're not going to get them the help they need or the address because we both scream it. So you have to set the tone and just remember, I need you to answer these questions so the responders can know how to respond to the situation that they're en route to, whether it's an electrical pole or a stove on fire to a baby choking, or if they had a stroke, have they had one before?

9:54You know, so they can know what all the equipment they need to bring inside with them. How do you recover after a day of answering calls where you're listening to a scared child or a horrified person hearing someone trying to break into their house? To be honest, you don't. you don't. We was trained not to bring work home with you. So when I get in my car, I tend to take my ID off of my neck. That's like me relieving work, you know, leaving work where it's at. When I go home, the first thing I want to do is take my shirt off. I'm taking work off of me. but you get immune to it.

10:55You know, we can only go to the item or the incident at the end to see if the person made it to the hospital, what's the fire put out, how many family members are without their home, or not able to go back to their house that day after their house fire. With the police, you know, the outcome was someone arrested. Did they make it to the hospital? Their house broken into. We don't know if they're going to sleep at home that night. You never know what happens to someone after you get off the call with them? Can you find out? Not for an operator, not really, unless you go and research that call. But you take so many, you don't have time for that.

12:01When you get there at 7, you're probably waiting on 7 p.m. that night because Orleans Parish have a high call volume. So you really never go back to look and see what happened with this call. Not that you don't care, but when you release that call, you take a deep breath, and you're ready for the next call. In 2012, a Northern Illinois University study looked at PTSD in 911 dispatchers. One clinical psychologist said Dispatchers are the forgotten first responders They carry a high level of responsibility For coordinating the response to the incident But they are very remote from it High levels of responsibility and low levels of the ability To actually influence the outcome Mean extremely high stress Do you think that this work has changed the person that you are when you leave work, the way you see the world, the way you look at other people?

13:10Yes. For my daughter, because like so, and even in the world, if you've been looking at it, they've been having a lot of shootings at football games, high school games. So yes, you want to enjoy your senior life, and have fun, but yet I'm scared. She don't understand. At work, I hear the danger all the time. She young. She just want to go, go, go. And, you know, you have to be, I try to tell her, you have to be mindful of who your friends is, mindful of your surroundings. We asked Terry's daughter, Tania, what she thought about her mother's work. I remember I used to, like, if I was going to summer camp for stuff, I used to wait at the job.

14:02So I'm like, okay, so my mama be like 911 with your emergency. So I used to be happy to tell people that. And, like, I felt like from, like, the age of, like, 6 to 8, I wanted to be a 911 operator. But then I was like, I don't know. Tania, she can tell you, sometimes if I had a rough day or whatever, she might come home and tell me, don't take it out on me because she say I be mean or I be snappy. But when I come home, like I tell her, give me at least 15 minutes. Don't talk to me. Don't tell me anything. Let me calm down. She don't realize it's a rush. You know, like I need to calm down. I just need peace and quiet.

14:54After 12 hours of listening to people's problems, listening to call takers, dispatchers, or other people calling for things. Like, give me 15 minutes. Sometimes, even when I come home, I have to sit in my car for 15 minutes just to be at peace with nothing playing, no radio, not being on the phone, just hearing the birds chirping or whatever. on October 17th 2022 Terry answered a 911 call that she was never expecting it really wasn't until I took Tenille's call that I realized I tend to hold everything inside of me

15:47we'll be right back

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17:20Terri, take me through October 17th. How did your shift start? Just take me through how that day started. Okay, so my regular shift was from 6.30 to 7 p.m. I'm about to say 1900. So Tenille had to work that evening. Tania, who was 16 at the time, had just started her first job working at McDonald's. Her shift started at 5 p.m. So I signed up to do a little overtime. I was like, I'm going to stay here, make a little extra money, and that way I'm up. You know, I had it set. When she got off at 10, I'll be getting off to pick up. So my shift ended, had just started the overtime shift, and I was plugged in and the call came over.

18:25Terry recognized Tania's cell phone number on the display. Because 911 have call ID. It don't tell you the name, but it tell you the address and like, well, if it's from your cell phone. It tells you the phone number and gives you the closest address that it is. Like the area or the street. It all depends on, you know, what company you have in a tower. So immediately I looked at my cell phone to make sure I didn't miss a call from her. I didn't have no call, right? So in my mind, I'm like, why is she calling my work phone? I didn't tell her about this. Had she called you at work before? Yes. So, all right.

19:18I might call her from the desk phone, but if you call the number bank, it'll come to 911. instead of her calling like my extension she probably just hit call back and she'll come through 9-1-1 and she might say mad speak to my mama mad speak to terry clove so you know i'm like hey you can't i didn't tell her this over and over don't call them but text me and i'll you You know what's up? I would call you.

19:54So that day, when her number came across, I'm like, 911, was she emergency? And she was like, Mama, we being robbed. I'm like, I know I'm not hearing what I just heard. And so I'm like, what's your address? I know my child was at McDonald's. I know where she was, but I still need to know, hey, she could have left off. So let's verify. And she was like, Mama, I'm at the store. You know, it's me, Tenea. So once again, what is your address? Because I was trained to treat every caller like they're family. So when you get your family member, you treat them like they're a regular caller. New Orleans 911, what's the location of the emergency?

20:51Mama, can you please send a police officer right now? The McDonald's being robbed. Where at? At my job, Mama. I still need the address. It's being robbed. What's the address? What's the address? What's the address? The McDonald's on Clayborne. 2856 on Clayborne. I had to go through the protocol. So I went under robbery, asked all my questions. Mama, please hurry up. She got a gun. Who have a gun? The lady. It's a lady. Is she inside or outside? Hello? Okay. Is she inside? She's inside the location? Is she trying to rob the store?

21:47I have to ask you these questions, baby. Is she inside the store? Yes, Mama. And she's trying to rob it? Yes, she's trying to rob it.

22:06Give me a description. Give me a description. Hello? With a backpack. Mala, please. Okay. We're going to hurry. Give me a description. She's a black lady. She got a mask on. She got somebody outside.

22:27And she got us in the freezer. Mala, please. You in the freezer? Yes, she had us in the freezer. When she said, like, we're in the freezer, that was my breaking point. because during the call I had, believe it or not, tears in my eyes, you know, but I was trying to remain calm, like, to get help, to feed them the information just in case, you know, when I'm saying, what was she wearing, in case the police coming their way. And a lot of citizens don't realize we're asking for a description because when the police come and they don't just have one unit, they have multiple units, someone might spot the bad guy.

23:13So that was my reason for asking. What did you, you were calm, but what was going on in your body? I sounded calm. I wasn't calm. Because I hit the mute button talking about, that's my child, y 'all, get somebody at McDonald's. When she said, we're in the freezer. And you heard me say, in the freezer. I we can never call no call a baby you heard me say baby we coming baby I'm coming I went into mother mode please come on hurry up baby I am I'm gonna send somebody I have to ask you these questions was she on foot yes she's on foot okay and y 'all inside the location yes mama We're going to get someone out, okay?

24:09I have to ask you these questions. How many of y 'all are in the freezer? How many of y 'all are in the freezer? It's five of us. It's five of us. It's five of us. It's four girls and one boy. All right. Okay, what's your name? What's your name? Tania Hill. Okay. we're going to have someone to come out okay and y 'all let McDonald's worship okay we're going to get someone out okay alright alright okay call us back if anything change if y 'all have further information okay alright to hear your child call out for help and you not there and your child begging you for help. And really, I'm sending help, but at the time I'm not there to grab my child and tell her it's going to be all right.

25:20It was painful.

25:25I'm a single parent, and, you know, I'm all she have. and that time when she needed me the most, it wasn't nothing but God that I was in her ear saying, we coming, mama coming. But then I had to switch it back to being professional. I was a nervous wreck. I'm like, you know, will I see my child? Will my child get home? But I'm trained to do my job.

26:13We'll be right back.

26:36We'll be right back.

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27:53Credits end and balanced due if you pay off earlier. Cancel finance agreement 256 gigs,$830. Eligible port in a new line,$100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes and fees required. Check out in 15 minutes or less per line. Visit T-Mobile.com. Tania, take me through what happened. What was going on right before you called 911? one. So that is school. I really did not feel good. Like I had a headache and my friends is crazy because my friends, they was like, don't go to work, girl. Don't go to work. I'm like, no, I got to go to work. I need my money. So I go to work and I'm like, OK, this is going to be a regular shift.

28:30It's fine. I'm like, OK, I'm looking at the clock time almost up. We about to go. Then we seen somebody come in with a hoodie. So I'm I thought they was about to order. So I say, hey, how you doing? Welcome to McDonald's. How may I help you? And he had another girl. She was walking over there to go take their order or whatever. But instead, she came to the back. And me and my coworker, we looked and like, is this actually for real? Like, are we really getting right right now? So I looked, and I'm like, usually I always do this. Like, even if I'm at school or something, if I tuck my phone, I tuck it in the back and I pull my shirt down.

29:13That way you can't really see. I don't remember clearly, but I really think that I walked sideways. That way she wouldn't be able to see it. It was some way that I put it. That way she wouldn't be able to see. I still had my phone on me. So when I seen the gun, because I remember she said, I'll never forget this. She said, y 'all think I'm playing? And she pulled the gun up. And I was like, oh. And, like, I'm the type of person, I really don't like guns. They really scare me, honestly. But I'm like, oh, wow, okay. So I'm like, I got to be calm because if I don't listen to what she's saying, I could get hurt.