Ohio, the heart of it all

[Barrister]

Hrm...maybe they could have gone to the witnesses and seen if the women matched reports of missing persons?  Granted not doing so is not exactly 'dropping the ball'.

Were it me, I wouldn't even think "missing person" if I saw that. Maybe I'm just too worldly, but I would think sex play first, watch to make sure the women were safe, and then go about my business.

I was just thinking about a way they could get a warrant to investigate if they wanted to in the context of Seedy's post.

If they wanted to spend the entire day investigating this one call, sure.

This is something I find people uninvolved in the justice system don't appreciate - the significant amount of time and resources needed to obtain a warrant.

Depending on the information received, police may or may not have had the authority to enter the home without a warrant.  If, say, there is a report of a woman obviously injured inside the home, then police would enter without a warrant.

[CountDeMoney]

The "naked women in the back with dog collars", yeah.  Not much you can do.

Multiple 911 calls at once carries more weight than a single call.  But if you don't see anything, hear anything, you're kinda out of immediate legal options.

There was another call of "woman yelling and screaming to get out of the house" where again police attended, no answer, and left.  There they may have had the authority to enter as part of their "preservation of life" duty.  If it is a 911 hangup police have the authority to force entry in this country.

That's why you're a foreigner, and your interpretation of foreign stuff is foreign.

But... you and I both know that 999 times out of 1000 it was a domestic, the parties have already reconciled, and will file a complaint if you kick in the door. So easier just to move on to the next call.

Ahhyup.

[Malthus]

Plus, some of these girls were rather young for legal sex games.

According to who? On what information is this based for responding officers to act upon? An anonymous 911 hang up?

They could look.

Allegedly, at least according to the news I read, they didn't.

Of course 99 times out of 100 I assume, a 911 call of this sort is a waste of time to even answer.

[Barrister]

Plus, some of these girls were rather young for legal sex games.

According to who? On what information is this based for responding officers to act upon? An anonymous 911 hang up?

They could look.

Allegedly, at least according to the news I read, they didn't.

Of course 99 times out of 100 I assume, a 911 call of this sort is a waste of time to even answer.

No, unless cleared by the caller they should respond to every 911 call.  The urgency in which they do so however...

[Malthus]

Plus, some of these girls were rather young for legal sex games.

According to who? On what information is this based for responding officers to act upon? An anonymous 911 hang up?

They could look.

Allegedly, at least according to the news I read, they didn't.

Of course 99 times out of 100 I assume, a 911 call of this sort is a waste of time to even answer.

No, unless cleared by the caller they should respond to every 911 call.  The urgency in which they do so however...

If that's the case, then there is (a) an actual example of shoddy policing (i.e., ignoring a 911 call) that (b) may have solved the case before the girl solved it herself, as easily as a "hey now what's going on here"? 

Of course it could well be that the three psychos herded their human pets indoors before the cops got there, leaving the cops no options - but we will never know.

[CountDeMoney]

Of course 99 times out of 100 I assume, a 911 call of this sort is a waste of time to even answer.

No, unless cleared by the caller they should respond to every 911 call.  The urgency in which they do so however...

They're all responded to and coded accordingly.  However, dispatch prioritizes the call, not the officer.

I'd come out of roll call, and have 15 calls like that on deck, waiting.  And that was before MDTs were installed in the cars;  we'd be dispatched via radio, and the next open officer gets the next call on deck in the sector.  On a busy shift, a call like that would keep getting knocked down the deck list, preempted by other calls.  So sometimes a call like that may not even get be answered on the same shift, unless there were several callbacks.  But if it's one call, anonymous, and no follow up calls to 911, it's a relatively low priority.
I don't think a neighborhood like that in Cleveland would be much different than a district in Mobtown.  Busy, busy, busy.  Shootings, robberies, medical calls and requests for back up get answered first.

[CountDeMoney]

Of course it could well be that the three psychos herded their human pets indoors before the cops got there, leaving the cops no options - but we will never know.

Sure we will.  There will be an investigation.

[Barrister]

That's why you're a foreigner, and your interpretation of foreign stuff is foreign.

Hey, I always say stuff like "in this country".


A war story slightly related to the events in question, which I'll tell because I like telling war stories:

Dude's employer call in a missing person complaint - one of his workers didn't come in to work today.  Police attend at the residence.  No answer at the door.  Employers work truck is parked on the property.  No answer on any known phone numbers.  Police observed an open / broken 2nd story window with curtain flapping in the breeze - it's a very cold day.

Police get a locksmith and enter to see if everyone is okay.  They find 100 pot plants.  They leave, go get a warrant, and re-enter to seize the plants.  Turns out the dude was just out of town hunting.

Judge rules it was an illegal search, tosses the evidence.

[Barrister]

Of course 99 times out of 100 I assume, a 911 call of this sort is a waste of time to even answer.

No, unless cleared by the caller they should respond to every 911 call.  The urgency in which they do so however...

They're all responded to and coded accordingly.  However, dispatch prioritizes the call, not the officer.

I'd come out of roll call, and have 15 calls like that on deck, waiting.  And that was before MDTs were installed in the cars;  we'd be dispatched via radio, and the next open officer gets the next call on deck in the sector.  On a busy shift, a call like that would keep getting knocked down the deck list, preempted by other calls.  So sometimes a call like that may not even get be answered on the same shift, unless there were several callbacks.  But if it's one call, anonymous, and no follow up calls to 911, it's a relatively low priority.
I don't think a neighborhood like that in Cleveland would be much different than a district in Mobtown.  Busy, busy, busy.  Shootings, robberies, medical calls and requests for back up get answered first.

Fair enough re: dispatch, but I thought not every 911 call was responded to.  If they call 911 for a, say, missing person, then call back to say the person has shown up, for example?

[garbon]

That's why you're a foreigner, and your interpretation of foreign stuff is foreign.

Hey, I always say stuff like "in this country".


A war story slightly related to the events in question, which I'll tell because I like telling war stories:

Dude's employer call in a missing person complaint - one of his workers didn't come in to work today.  Police attend at the residence.  No answer at the door.  Employers work truck is parked on the property.  No answer on any known phone numbers.  Police observed an open / broken 2nd story window with curtain flapping in the breeze - it's a very cold day.

Police get a locksmith and enter to see if everyone is okay.  They find 100 pot plants.  They leave, go get a warrant, and re-enter to seize the plants.  Turns out the dude was just out of town hunting.

Judge rules it was an illegal search, tosses the evidence.

Good. There were there to find a missing person, not arrest him.

[Malthus]

That's why you're a foreigner, and your interpretation of foreign stuff is foreign.

Hey, I always say stuff like "in this country".


A war story slightly related to the events in question, which I'll tell because I like telling war stories:

Dude's employer call in a missing person complaint - one of his workers didn't come in to work today.  Police attend at the residence.  No answer at the door.  Employers work truck is parked on the property.  No answer on any known phone numbers.  Police observed an open / broken 2nd story window with curtain flapping in the breeze - it's a very cold day.

Police get a locksmith and enter to see if everyone is okay.  They find 100 pot plants.  They leave, go get a warrant, and re-enter to seize the plants.  Turns out the dude was just out of town hunting.

Judge rules it was an illegal search, tosses the evidence.

Good. There were there to find a missing person, not arrest him.

Well, the whole point of arresting someone is to ensure he stays found ... 

[CountDeMoney]

Fair enough re: dispatch, but I thought not every 911 call was responded to.  If they call 911 for a, say, missing person, then call back to say the person has shown up, for example?

Even hang ups get responded to--dispatch will tag the call for service as a hang up--as do call backs to cancel a police call.  There's no take backs with 911.

[Barrister]

That's why you're a foreigner, and your interpretation of foreign stuff is foreign.

Hey, I always say stuff like "in this country".


A war story slightly related to the events in question, which I'll tell because I like telling war stories:

Dude's employer call in a missing person complaint - one of his workers didn't come in to work today.  Police attend at the residence.  No answer at the door.  Employers work truck is parked on the property.  No answer on any known phone numbers.  Police observed an open / broken 2nd story window with curtain flapping in the breeze - it's a very cold day.

Police get a locksmith and enter to see if everyone is okay.  They find 100 pot plants.  They leave, go get a warrant, and re-enter to seize the plants.  Turns out the dude was just out of town hunting.

Judge rules it was an illegal search, tosses the evidence.

Good. There were there to find a missing person, not arrest him.

Judge said they should have walked away, and not entered to try and find him.  I thought that was BS.

[Barrister]

Fair enough re: dispatch, but I thought not every 911 call was responded to.  If they call 911 for a, say, missing person, then call back to say the person has shown up, for example?

Even hang ups get responded to--dispatch will tag the call for service as a hang up--as do call backs to cancel a police call.  There's no take backs with 911.

Okay.

Hang ups actually get treated as very high priority here.

[Malthus]

Fair enough re: dispatch, but I thought not every 911 call was responded to.  If they call 911 for a, say, missing person, then call back to say the person has shown up, for example?

Even hang ups get responded to--dispatch will tag the call for service as a hang up--as do call backs to cancel a police call.  There's no take backs with 911.

Okay.

Hang ups actually get treated as very high priority here.

My friend found that out the hard way, when his 3 year old learned about 911.