Law Dispatcher

A stolen vehicle is a felony offense and as such careful consideration needs to be taken when reporting such. The way a stolen vehicle is reported can result in someone being pulled over and hauled out of a vehicle at gun point or it could be as simple as the LEO calling and notifying the owner that their vehicle has been spotted. Let me explain. If your vehicle is gone and you have no idea where it could be or who could have taken it, you have the right to file a stolen vehicle report. As such, a APB (all points bulletin) or a BOLO (be on the lookout for) will be issued containing the vehicle description, tag number, VIN number, possible suspect and description of them, where the vehicle was last seen and the approximate time the vehicle was taken. Should a LEO spot this vehicle or do a traffic stop and run the tag, this vehicle should come up listed as stolen. If the LEO hasn’t already done a traffic stop, they will attempt to do so. Once the vehicle has been stopped, the driver of the vehicle will be pulled from the vehicle and thrown to the ground at gun point. They will be charged with the offense and spend some time in jail.

If however, you think you might just know who has taken your vehicle, it may be better for you to do an ATL (attempt to locate) on your vehicle. This type of reporting is usually done when the vehicle is taken by a family member or friend and the complainant does not wish for the driver to be held at gun point. Many parents will use this type of reporting when their child has taken their vehicle so as to avoid dragging the situation thru the courts and encountering costs and further humiliation.

It is important that you KNOW for sure that your vehicle has been stolen. You will be asked the for the following information when you call to report it: What is the make, model and year of the vehicle, the color, number of doors, tag number, VIN number (if known. This information will be on the title of the vehicle so have that ready for the officer when they come to take the report.) who could have possibly taken the vehicle, was it a repossession, any weapons in the vehicle and when was the vehicle last seen.

As a side note, please do not call when you see a tow truck back up and take your vehicle. It’s most likely that you haven’t paid your auto loan and they have come to repossess the vehicle or else the loan processing center has not yet received and processed your last payment. Call your loaning agency and work out the details thru them.

On rare occasions, you may witness your vehicle being stolen. This IS a 911 emergency. Stay calm and answer the operators questions. Make sure you state that the incident is in progress. Note the description of the subject and the direction that they are leaving in. Also, make note of any weapons seen on the subject or any left in the vehicle and exactly what kind of weapon. After terminating the phone call to 911, stay put and wait for the officer to respond to you.

Recently, an acquaintance of mine was killed because of an attempted theft of his vehicle. It is thought that he may have put up a fight with the would-be thief. The end result…approximately 20 bullets to the head and chest area. Thankfully, he was prepared to die because just a few years prior, he had accepted Christ as his personal Savior and was a great influence on his peers, bringing many of them to Christ also. His death was not in vain causing many to profess Christ after his death. However, I can’t help but wonder what would of happen if he had not refused to give up his vehicle. Would he still be alive? We will never know. The true irony of this situation is that he had just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. Consequently, the subject and his mother were arrested. The incident was drug related unfortunately.

Stolen vehicles have the potential to become a deadly incident. Do NOT try to stop it on your own. Call 911 immediately if it is in progress. If it is not, please call the non-emergency number to your local law enforcement agency.

As aggravating as it can be, a stolen tag is not the end of the world. A simple phone call to your local law enforcement office should be all that’s required to report it. A report can be made over the phone to a sworn officer and they should instruct you as to how to carry on. This is a common occurrence and dealt with on a non-emergency basis. This IS NOT a 911 emergency. Take the time to look up the non-emergency phone number to your local police/sheriff/constable office and program your phone with that number. You should be able to locate that number just inside the front cover of your phone book or search for it on the internet.

Stolen tags are not an emergency no matter the amount of inconvenience. If you have a life or death emergency, call 911.

Thousands of people go missing every year. Although it can be quite alarming to those who are relatives, it causes little concern amongst law enforcement unless the person is endangered, a minor under the age of 12 or an elderly person. The thinking behind the lack of concern is that a person of 12 years of age or older can take care of themselves…particularly an adult, who has the right to “go missing”. Although such a thoughtless action on behalf of the person gone missing, it is their right.

Concern for the endangered, minors (under 12 years of age) and elderly increases according to the circumstances. If a person leaves the hospital against medical advice (AMA), they are considered endangered and it becomes necessary to find them quickly and get them the help they need. There are a variety of situations in which an individual can be considered endangered. Children under the age of 12 who go missing is also cause for concern and that concern increases based not only upon the circumstance but also their age. If a 2 year old go missing from their home and the home is situated near a body of water, an immediate and large response is required. It is usually standard procedure that when a young child goes missing that not only will several units respond to check the local area but also the law enforcement helicopter if available. Helicopters can oversee large areas at once and be very instrumental to ground forces in locating a person of interest. The same goes for an elderly person who has gone missing. Not all elderly missing people suffer from Alzheimer’s but there are a significant number who do. They present a special challenge for law enforcement because usually, they don’t know where they are, where they are going and sometimes might not even know their own name. That is why it is critically important that the 911 operator extract detailed information from the caller about the description of the person who has gone missing. What are they wearing and what color? How old are they and what’s their birth date? Where are they missing from? Can they be endangered? When was the last time they were seen? How tall are they? What’s their approximate weight, build, hair color, eye color? Any identifying marks such as scars, tattoos, birthmarks etc.? How long have they been missing? Any little piece of information could be just the identifier needed to bring this person home. A recent picture will be extremely helpful to the responding officers.

Please don’t hesitate to contact law enforcement when a person goes missing. State the circumstances and answer all the questions to the best of your ability. Law enforcement will determine the priority set on finding this person.

When a person dies, it becomes necessary for law enforcement to become involved when a doctor is not in attendance. Law enforcement involvement suggests to some that there was some kind of foul play resulting in death which is not necessarily true. In fact, the reason for law enforcement involvement is to rule out such an incident. A LEO (law enforcement officer) will arrive on the scene of the death and will first ascertain as to supposed cause, time and method of the death along with the name of the deceased. If family is not present, he will then seek to contact them. Finding the next of kin can sometimes be a real challenge, especially if they don’t live nearby. Usually the LEO will search the residence to find clues as to who the next of kin may be.

The LEO will also check the body of the deceased for signs of foul play. This will include rolling the body over to insure all areas have been checked.

Once there is confirmation of no foul play and the death seems to be of natural causes, the LEO will contact the deceased’s doctor to inform them of the death and ascertain whether the death was expected. Should the death have been an expected outcome, the LEO will ask if the doctor will sign the death certificate. If the doctor agrees to sign, the body can be released to the funeral home of the family’s choosing. If the death was unexpected or the doctor refuses to sign the death certificate, the body must then be placed into the care of the coroner. The LEO should be willing to assist the family in contacting the immediate family and arranging for the disposition of the body. The LEO should fill out a full report on the death to be sent to the records office.

Death of a loved one is not a pleasant experience but the stress of it can be relieved if there has been a will, trust and/or funeral arrangements made ahead of time.

Death that occurs in a hospital, under hospice care or attended by a doctor will not need to have law enforcement involvement as these are expected deaths and are under a physicians care.

Should you find yourself involved in a “death” situation, please feel free to ask the officer that responds any questions. They are there for you and can often offer help and other resources to assist you through this difficult time.

The upcoming topic is on death and how it is handled in the dispatch and law enforcement fields. It’s not a well-talked about topic and because of that, not many people know exactly what transpires when a loved one passes away. It is a well known fact that “It is appointed unto man once to die…” and as such it should be a topic that one should be informed about prior to that occasion. Uncomfortable as it may be, it would do each of us well to understand the process now so that when the time comes to be part of the process, it’s not such a shock.

During my training period as a 911 operator, I received a 911 call from a gentleman whose voice was quivering and obviously he was upset. After issuing him some calming words, he proceeded to tell me that he had just found his 21 year old daughter dead. This was my first death call that I can remember. As I obtained the address and his phone number, my computer locked up and my system eventually crashed. Being new to the job, I was unsure of how to proceed and my trainer was panicking due to the crash of the computer. The trainers advice: “Keep him talking.” Ugh! About what? As a trainee I did my best but this was a very uncomfortable situation. The caller had no idea that my computer was malfunctioning and he felt that I was occupying his time that he could better be using by calling his wife and informing her of the tragedy. Eventually, we got the computer functioning again and was able to send help to him, but I shall never forget his voice and that sorrow that it contained. Of course, I never found out the real cause of death but he had informed me that she did have a medical problem but nothing that would seem severe enough to cause death. It was such a shock to him and the nature in which he found the body suggested that there was no foul play.

Death calls are tricky for operators. While such a call should be handled with concern and compassion, it is often left up to the operator to try and determine if it certain death or if further action should be taken to try and preserve life. Obviously, if it is an expected death or the victim is elderly, it’s not quite as difficult for the operator to make that determination. However, when calls come in for children (especially babies), it can be almost impossible to gain the information necessary to send help much less issue instructions on how to proceed. In further postings, I will try to explain the role of law and paramedics when it comes to death or cardiac arrest calls. This can be a complex topic and it will need several postings to cover it correctly.

Should you find yourself in a situation of attending to someone who has died or is experiencing cardiac arrest, please do not hesitate to contact 911 immediately. It is a valid 911 call.