OT: We had voices outside at 12:45 AM

[J Miller]

My wife gets home later on Fridays and Saturdays so supper is generally very late. Not to mention we usually sleep in.

Well, about 12:45 am or so we were sitting here discussing a thing or two when my wife started hearing voices outside the house. Well, we had all the windows open because it was fairly cool and the voices sounded pretty close. I was heading for bed so when she got up to check I started to get dressed again.
She went to the kitchen windows because they have the best view but didn't see anything. As she turned to come back to where I was her #2 cell phone, a newer Trac Phone, started to ring. She looked at the number but didn't recognize it. Normally we don't answer numbers we don't recognize but this time she did. It was the 911 operator asking her if she'd dialed 911? No she hadn't, but her phone had. When she answered the phone, the voices outside stopped. It seems that according to the 911 operator if you push a button and hold it these phones will automatically dial 911, but he didn't tell her which button. I didn't know this, neither did my wife. It appears what happened was when she sat down the phone was pressing against the chair back and the buttons got pressed and held down. In their conversation the operator asked for the address to verify where we were. That pretty much confirms the voices outside were the police.

My theory is the 911 operator dispatched the police and when they got here they heard us bs'ing and laughing inside the house. Since that didn't match up to a 911 call they had the operator call back when her phone disconnected rather than knock on the door.
My wife said that almost all the officers in this area know her and her Nissan because the Pizza delivery and the market she works for, and probably recognized it in the driveway.
At any rate it was an interesting few moments early this morning.

So, watch your cell phones they can get you unwanted attention.

Joe

[airedaleman]

A police response to a 911 call "unwanted attention?" In my department, ALL 911 calls were responded to - genuine emergencies, hang-ups, misdials - mattered not. We responded and interacted with the caller. Findings noted in station log, with arrest or incident reports as required.

Just an observation, mind you...

[vancelw]

They didn't know what door to knock on until they talked to your wife. Your trackphone doesn't tell them where you live, but the GPS got them in the general area. Since they heard no disturbance they had no idea which house the call came from. So the dispatcher called back to find out so they could check on your welfare.

All 911 calls are responded to, even hang-ups. What if you were being robbed or domestic violence was occurring and someone made you hang up the phone?

All cell phones have speed dial buttons. Usually 9 is pre set to 911. If you press and hold it, it will dial 911. Just like 1 is usally set to call your voicemail box.

[J Miller]

Vance, airedaleman,

Granted about the response to the 911 call. I know and accept that.


Vance,

Thanks for the info about the numbers. I'll tell my wife.

If we were being robbed it would have been easy for them to find the right house. It would have been the one all the gunfire was coming from.
As for a domestic disturbance .... not our house. We're too old for that nonsense.

Joe

[olyinaz]

The dreaded butt dial! Been there, done that....

Oly

[kimwcook]

The dreaded butt dial! Been there, done that....

Oly

Yep. And, I can third the 911 calls. Our department does the same thing. Sometimes when we get a good downpour we'll get a ton of 911 calls because of shorts in the phone lines. We go to all of those too.

[765x53]

Around here, when you call 911 for any reason, you get a cop, a firetruck and an ambulance. And, you have to pay for the firetruck and the ambulance.

That's why I keep the various departments non-emergency numbers on speed dial.

[Jeff H]

My daughther a nd a good friend both "butt dial" me frequently. They both have phones with external buttons and when they sit down, they manage to press the button they have me on speed dial.

I hear whats going on on their end but they can't hear me asking what they want.

Typical absent-monded design - something new and cool and not thought out.

I worry my daughter will be in trouble some day, call me and not be able to answer me and I will chalk it up to a stupid "butt dial."

Could have been really ugly with the cops showing up. I treat all intruders the same way. If I don't know who's creeping around my house at night, how would I know it was the cops??

[kimwcook]

Jeff H, the cops aren't going to just intrude into your home. At least not without announcing and not without just cause (following proper protocol). Like a 911 call, front doors stuffed and no one's answering the officers yelling into the residence. And, if one were to go checking what the noise is outside their residence I would hope one wouldn't just shoot someone on your property unless justified and under the gravest extreme.

[Booger Bill]

Here are some good hints for useing cell phones a friend E-mailed me.
5 Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do

For all the folks with cell phones. (This should be printed and kept in your car, purse, and wallet. Good information to have with you.)

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies.

Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival.

Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST (Emergency)

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an Emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND (Locked Keys in Car)


Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone:

If you lock your keys In the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!'

THIRD (Hidden Battery Power)

Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370#. Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell phone next time.

FOURTH (How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?)
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following Digits on your phone:
*#06#.
A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.

If your phone is stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.


And Finally....

FIFTH (Free Directory Service for Cells)

Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial:
(800) FREE411 or (800) 373-3411

without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.
This is sponsored by McDonalds.

This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.

[kimwcook]

And who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Good info to know. Thanks, Bill.

[Hobie]

They didn't know what door to knock on until they talked to your wife. Your trackphone doesn't tell them where you live, but the GPS got them in the general area. Since they heard no disturbance they had no idea which house the call came from. So the dispatcher called back to find out so they could check on your welfare.

All 911 calls are responded to, even hang-ups. What if you were being robbed or domestic violence was occurring and someone made you hang up the phone?

All cell phones have speed dial buttons. Usually 9 is pre set to 911. If you press and hold it, it will dial 911. Just like 1 is usally set to call your voicemail box.

I did NOT know that. How could you check to see if the 9 is so set up without making a false call.

[J Miller]

They didn't know what door to knock on until they talked to your wife. Your trackphone doesn't tell them where you live, but the GPS got them in the general area. Since they heard no disturbance they had no idea which house the call came from. So the dispatcher called back to find out so they could check on your welfare.

All 911 calls are responded to, even hang-ups. What if you were being robbed or domestic violence was occurring and someone made you hang up the phone?

All cell phones have speed dial buttons. Usually 9 is pre set to 911. If you press and hold it, it will dial 911. Just like 1 is usally set to call your voicemail box.

I did NOT know that. How could you check to see if the 9 is so set up without making a false call.

Hobie,
Well we sure were not going to test the "9" key, but we did test the "1" key and sure enough it went straight to the voice mail. So I'm gonna watch that "9" key from now on.

Joe

[vancelw]

They didn't know what door to knock on until they talked to your wife. Your trackphone doesn't tell them where you live, but the GPS got them in the general area. Since they heard no disturbance they had no idea which house the call came from. So the dispatcher called back to find out so they could check on your welfare.

All 911 calls are responded to, even hang-ups. What if you were being robbed or domestic violence was occurring and someone made you hang up the phone?

All cell phones have speed dial buttons. Usually 9 is pre set to 911. If you press and hold it, it will dial 911. Just like 1 is usually set to call your voicemail box.

I did NOT know that. How could you check to see if the 9 is so set up without making a false call.

If you can figure out where the speed dial settings on your phone are!!! They are all different. I can never find anything on this stupid blackberry. The speed dial list will show what is stored for all the numbers.
An alternative is to hold the 9 down and the number stored in it should display on the screen. Just hit "end" quickly to stop the call before the phone has time to dial.

[Birdman]

That's good to know. Thanks

[Lobo]

Hi All,

I hate to be the vinegar in the wine, but for you folks who believe that all 911 calls are always responded to, I've got news. I called 911 to report gunshots fired.....the 911 operator wanted to know how long I'd lived in town (we have a national guard training facility just over the hill). No police officer ever showed. No follow up phone call was ever received.

[J Miller]

That does bring up a point. Gunshots in general are hard to trace down unless bullet holes appear in your house.
I've lived in Phoenix which has a lot of gun shots in neighborhoods all year long and I've never reported any.
Same here. Unless a bullet hole appears in my house I don't bother.

On the other hand I'm sure if I fired off a gun all my neighbors would call in and I'd see the blue suits in mass.

Joe

[Blaine]

My little 911 story....

Three homes ago, we were involved in Safe Streets because there was rampent gang activity in a neighborhood house. We had a phone tree, and once I was the one to call 911....WELL, the clearly Black woman that took the call started in on me, clearly angry telling me I must be ASSuming because the people were Black they were gangsters. Well, Safe Streets had already confirmed we had an infestation of Bloods and the Police knew about it and were just waiting for a call so they could drive by and break up the gathering. The LEOs never showed up that night...I guess the Black person on the 911 line didn't think it was necessary. I reported that incident, but never heard if anything was done about it.....I doubt it
I'm sure they checked with those boy's Moms and were pronounced good boys

[Jeff H]

...... I would hope one wouldn't just shoot someone on your property unless justified and under the gravest extreme.

Well, I hadn't thought of blasting through the wall in the general direction of the voices, but now that you bring it up, if I were outside a stranger's house at night, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of someone else thinking of it.

Voices outside my windows at night would be incredibly unusual, so in a more densely populated area, that whole ordeal might not have been as tense as it would be here. My house is so far off the road that there is no shortcut through my yard to anything and I can see my neighbors' lights but only hear them if they're yelling over a deisel or having a party and those don't last too long past dark.

My greeting would not have been a pleasant "hey how ya' doin' out there" in any case and it would doubtless create some tension.

From what I read in the original post the police did not announce themselves, they had dispatch call back in lieu of announcing themselves. In my experience (twice, two different states), dispatch calls back as soon as they are disconnected. That may not be prptcol everywhere and may not necessarily be called for everywhere either. No criticism of the procedure, but it would not work well here with so few Deputies per square mile - fewer than the vast majority of the residents of the county would imagin.

My point was that such a situation could easily get both party's heart rates up quickly. They don't know who they're dealing with and you don't know who you're dealing with or whether the officer(s) are experienced and level headed, got a bug up their butt or what. It doesn't have to lead to bodies lying on the lawn to be "ugly." I would prefer to stay on friendly terms with my local LE folks and I am sure there could be some hurt feelings before the evening ended - especially since they can't just sit down with you and have a beer immediately afterward.

[Ysabel Kid]

I'm just glad the voices outside weren't people bent on getting inside for nefarious purposes...

[vancelw]

From what I read in the original post the police did not announce themselves, they had dispatch call back in lieu of announcing themselves. In my experience (twice, two different states), dispatch calls back as soon as they are disconnected. That may not be prptcol everywhere and may not necessarily be called for everywhere either. No criticism of the procedure, but it would not work well here with so few Deputies per square mile - fewer than the vast majority of the residents of the county would imagin.

.

If the police were in the public street or on the sidewalk ,they had no reason to announce themselves. If they were unsure of who called 911, they had no one to announce to. Dispatch will always call back a 911 hang up. If the cops had arrived and heard a commotion or seen someone making furtive movements, they would have known which house to approach... That's why they wait until they identify the correct house.

Lobo: You may not get a visit on a 911 hangup, but in our area you would. Guaranteed. The only exception would be a tornado or some similar situation where the switchboard was getting flooded and there were more calls for service than there were emergency responders.

[Jeff H]

[quote="vancelw"].......If the police were in the public street or on the sidewalk ,they had no reason to announce themselves.......[quote]

OK, I guess I would have supposed that if they were on the street or on a sidewalk that the residents would not have had any reason for concern about having heard voices outside. I assumed that there was good reason for being concerned, but I wasn't there, I don't know the terrain, the location of properety lines, etc.

[adirondakjack]

I am sooo glad I no longer have a phone with buttons. My last one was bad for pocket dialing, especially if I made the mistake of putting change in the same pocket. a dime or penny between the phone and the flip lid would dial away..... That's one of the GOOD things about a smart phone with multi-touch screen. Though easy to get into, NONE of the few external buttons is alive except the recessed power button until you "swipe" the screen to wake the phone, and then ya have to touch one or two virtual buttons to GET a dial pad to appear.

Joe, It coulda been a LOT worse. Here, I would NOT have assumed it was cops outside, and would have gone out to look, with a gun and an 18V flashlight I would NOT have lit up until I had a target.....

[kimwcook]

Jeff H, if I heard voices outside my residence at night I'd be amped up for sure, but I'am an LEO so I get amped for the normal reasons plus others. That's why being an LEO is so dangerous. Not only do you have to watch out for the bad guys, who generally always have the jump on you, but you also have to be aware good guys are dangerous too. Not because of evil intent, but because of training, live experiences, etc...Some will just come out a blazing before they find out what's going on and honestly think they're justified.

[vancelw]

.......If the police were in the public street or on the sidewalk ,they had no reason to announce themselves.......

OK, I guess I would have supposed that if they were on the street or on a sidewalk that the residents would not have had any reason for concern about having heard voices outside. I assumed that there was good reason for being concerned, but I wasn't there, I don't know the terrain, the location of properety lines, etc.

My neighbors are 600 yards (1/3 mile) away. If I stand on my back porch, I can hear them talking outside on a calm night. If I had my windows open I could hear them from inside. Jmiller said he could hear voices outside. he never said anyone was sneaking around on his property. I would not go outside blasting away if I heard voices. I WOULD go outside, armed, and with a very powerful light handy until I could ascertain where the voices were coming from. Where I live, it would probably be someone broke down on the road looking for a phone (doesn't happen much anymore since there are so many cell towers around now). I would check, but I wouldn't jump to conclusions.

[Jeff H]

Jeff H, if I heard voices outside my residence at night I'd be amped up for sure, but I'am an LEO so I get amped for the normal reasons plus others. That's why being an LEO is so dangerous. Not only do you have to watch out for the bad guys, who generally always have the jump on you, but you also have to be aware good guys are dangerous too. Not because of evil intent, but because of training, live experiences, etc...Some will just come out a blazing before they find out what's going on and honestly think they're justified.

Exactly.
The LEs in question did not know what they were getting into, if I heard voices outside my house at night, I would not know what I was getting into. If I were to address an unknown _______ (going to have to call it a threat until I know otherwise) outside my house when it shouldn't be there, my inquiry is going to be in a command voice and to the officer (I don't know that) that tone is going to sound threatening (rightly so).

I am not saying anyone was right or wrong and I am not criticizing anyone's actions or decisions. I was merely stating that it could have gotten tense quickly for the reasons you mention and the fact that some seem to think that I am reinforces my point as well. Transposing the situation to where I live, hearing voices outside my house (not down the road) would equate to "something wrong." If that's not the case for everyone, that's great.

My point was purely conjectural, but seems to have been taken as a threat.
I believe that alone reinforces my point

[Jeff H]

....... I WOULD go outside, armed, and with a very powerful light handy until I could ascertain where the voices were coming from. Where I live, it would probably be someone broke down on the road looking for a phone (doesn't happen much anymore since there are so many cell towers around now). I would check, but I wouldn't jump to conclusions.

THAT's what I am talking about.
In fact, I am not certain I would have necessarily gone outside or have been armed, but how do you think an LE is going to feel when he/she gets lit up with a tac' light? This is all I am saying - that if they don't know who you are (or your intentions) and you don't know who they are (or their intentions) it is easy for either or both parties to feel threatened. Best possible outcome - you both get your blood going and are a bit ticked at each other for a bit. Worst possible outcome - someone in either or both parties is dead.

I am not trying to issue so,me kind of sage and dire warning and I am not issuing a threat. I am imagining that something worst could have come of it but gladly did not. I am not making a prediction based on all my years of experience and wisdom to impress anyone - but thinking aloud that this is something that I will store away to consider (along with a thousand other things) when answering a percieved threat.

My apologies to Joe for having drug the thread down.

[adirondakjack]

When on the unlikely occasion I meet up with an unknown person outside my house who is not simply walking down the road, but lingering on my property, I'd ask in a command voice "can I help you", if I could plainly see them, and if in the dark I would start lighting yard up then ask "who's out there?", a question that telegraphs to any LEO or other "good guy" that it's my place, I belong here, and I'd darned sure expect a prompt reply. My handgun would stay low, my arm fully extended, the gun next to my leg, but it would be there while the other hand runs the light, prepared to douse or ditch the light if stuff goes bad....

I live in a GOOD area. My neighbors include an active deputy and a retired State BCI investigator within sight of my front door. We haven't had any troubl;e here in a long time, but I am always expcting it could happen, likely would be drug-involved young thieves....

[J Miller]

Our yard is long and narrow. There is a pole light at the back in the alley that lights that end up and one at the street in the front that lights that end up. Had I had time to go outside to see who was there I would have had no trouble seeing them.
By the sounds of the voices we figure they were in the alley just behind the house or next to the back of the garage.

However perhaps I didn't get the timing down right. The voices, the operator call back, then the voices disappearing happened in less time than it would have taken for me to put my pants on. I had started to go to bed.
As for being armed there was one less than 6" from me. What can I say.

Joe