Molyneux wrote:I was under the impression that people paid for these services already. They are called "taxes".
You're correct. People pay taxes so emergency personnel can respond to emergencies, and not so your desire for attention can be satisifed. It reminds me of one lady I dealt with who flat out told us that she would continue to call police until we kicked her ex-husband out of the house. No violence had occurred, and no police presence was necessary. The solution in the OP would discourage abuse of these services.
Of course, fining people who need to make more than one 911 call a year is bound to discourage abuse, while not having any effect whatsoever on legitimate calls. Except fining them. Oh, well, oops.
Molyneux wrote:I was under the impression that people paid for these services already. They are called "taxes".
You're correct. People pay taxes so emergency personnel can respond to emergencies, and not so your desire for attention can be satisifed. It reminds me of one lady I dealt with who flat out told us that she would continue to call police until we kicked her ex-husband out of the house. No violence had occurred, and no police presence was necessary. The solution in the OP would discourage abuse of these services.
Of course, fining people who need to make more than one 911 call a year is bound to discourage abuse, while not having any effect whatsoever on legitimate calls. Except fining them. Oh, well, oops.
Oh absolutely. The idea in the OP is retarded. I thought you were talking about 911 fees in general.
If anything, the knowledge that you would be fined for calling EMTs would discourage actually calling for help when EMT's are needed. Inevitabely, some people would wait and think about whether or not they could afford the fine (as mentioned earlier in this thread), and would waste valuable time pondering over it when, had they not needed to worry about being fined, they should have the EMT's on the way, been given instructions over the phone on what to do with an injured person, or both.
chitoryu12 wrote:If anything, the knowledge that you would be fined for calling EMTs would discourage actually calling for help when EMT's are needed. Inevitabely, some people would wait and think about whether or not they could afford the fine (as mentioned earlier in this thread), and would waste valuable time pondering over it when, had they not needed to worry about being fined, they should have the EMT's on the way, been given instructions over the phone on what to do with an injured person, or both.
You're probably right, but only because people are fucking idiots. An emergency is not some mysterious event that is difficult to recognize. If someone is injured then that would be a legitimate call regardless of injury. However, the response to these calls is not what drains money and resources. It's the thousands of bullshit calls that are dispatched because people want attention or want to take advantage of the system.
Emergencies are indeed usually easy to recognize...when you're thinking clearly. In your experience, KS, are everyone making emergency calls thinking clearly at the time? I don't have relevant experience, but projecting reactions to an 'oh motherFUCK' moment when everything goes wrong, I can easily imagine people not being in the right state of mind to weigh consequences and that sort of thing.
Chronological Incontinence: Time warps around the poster. The thread topic winks out of existence and reappears in 1d10 posts.
Out of Context Theatre, this week starring Darth Nostril.
-'If you really want to fuck with these idiots tell them that there is a vaccine for chemtrails.'
White Haven wrote:Emergencies are indeed usually easy to recognize...when you're thinking clearly. In your experience, KS, are everyone making emergency calls thinking clearly at the time? I don't have relevant experience, but projecting reactions to an 'oh motherFUCK' moment when everything goes wrong, I can easily imagine people not being in the right state of mind to weigh consequences and that sort of thing.
As can I. That's why I'd leave it up to the responding officers to make that determination, and only cite when it is clear that this person is intentionally abusing the system.
