What If You Called 911 and No One Came to Help?

That was the situation in Portland earlier in the year. Portland police leave 911 calls on hold for hours, then closed them without response, records show - oregonlive.com

The story in question is behind a paywall, but you can guess what it says...

Portland patrol sergeants last summer ignored dozens of calls for service placed to 911 dispatchers without sending an officer or contacting the callers to let them know not to expect a response.

38 calls is technically "dozens" but that statement still feels like it is trying to incite something.

It was roughly at the end of July and into August that the cops just stopped responding to some 911 calls. Gee, let me think... What was going on in Portland over the summer?

Not only is this poor procedure, it is in violation of policy established in 2016. But hey, you don't think the rules apply to the cops, do you? They certainly didn't seem to think this rule applied. (They were either supposed to respond to the call in person, or call back.)

Now on the cops' side of the ledger, 911 calls were off-the-charts in Portland in the summer. But it is worth reiterating. 911 is a system, built and operated by humans. That means it will not be perfect. That means that if your only plan is to call 911 and wait for rescue, you might want to consider a Plan B.

Also on the cops' side of the ledger is the fact that these were all "Low Priority" calls. That is, no one was in iminent danger. In one of the cases, the cops recommended to a woman that she get a restraining order. At least that is a first step.

Calling 911 is a fine thing to do. They can send all kinds of help to you. But it won't work out like that every time, and some of the time there may be no one available to respond.