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As the classic song goes, 911 is a joke—but calling police precincts is even more of a laugh, according a little survey conducted by the Daily News. Over the course of a month, reporters called all 76 neighborhood precinct stationhouses across the city at least seven times and found that many of them need to work on their telephone manners. The tabloid gave 40% of them a ranking of "unacceptable" because nobody picked up within 10 rings on at least five out of seven calls. At one Bronx stationhouse, a uniformed officer twice picked up the phone and immediately hung it up after a reporter called from the waiting area. At the 104th Precinct stationhouse in Ridgewood, Queens, when a reporter asked to be transferred to Community Affairs, the phone rang 175 times before the caller finally gave up. And on two occasions at the 66th Precinct, the stationhouse's phone rang at least 50 times—then went to a busy signal. One anonymous cop explains that officers simply dread answering the phone, because "if you pick up the phone you are stuck with whatever ... is coming out of the receiver." NYPD commissioner Paul Browne says New Yorkers should just call 911 during emergencies.
Survey: Cops Hate Answering The Phone
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"if you pick up the phone you are stuck with whatever ... is coming out of the receiver."
Actually, that's why I hate answering the phone at my job too. You never know what kind of kook is going to be on the other end of the line and then if you answer you are stuck dealing with them.
Of course, I *do* answer the phone, since it's part of my job and all...good to know cops won't do the same.
what does the cop mean by being stuck with "whatever"?
it's their job but they sure do love their cell phones.
stop defending this behavior.
One of the reasons 911 is a joke is because if you want to talk to a cop about ANYTHING, you have to pretend it's an emergency.
Hold on a sec, Paul Brown is drafting another response on his typewriter. Should be in by Wednesday of next week.
NYPD commissioner Paul Browne says New Yorkers should just call 911 during emergencies.
And if it isn't an emergency, apparently you are on your own.
Exactly. There are plenty of non-emergency reasons to call the cops. I have had my precinct hang up on me when I was calling to report a drug-dealing gang hanging out in front of my building. That's some nice police work there, Lou.
I read an interview with Thomas Lennon (Lt. Jim Dangle of Reno! 911) once where the writer asked "what do real cops that you've met think of the show?" and he answered something along the lines of "oh, they love it. and many of them tell me that it's actually the most realistic police show on television".
You read stories like this and it's not hard to believe that he's right.
Isn't it a bummer when people call you on the phone and actually expect you to do your job?
... they must have a good union or something.
I work in a law office. As a part of my job, I not unseldomly (is that a word? not frequently enough to say "frequently") call precincts city-wide. In 15 years, I do not recall the last time I have ever had such an egregious problem. In fact, the regular precinct phone lines are almost always promptly answered. If you've ever been inside a precinct, you would see how quickly the calls come in. And they're law-enforcement officers, not office workers.
That's because they weren't using the secret white person's phone ring. With the secret white person's phone ring I can call the 60th precinct in Coney Island and they'll save me a parking spot in front of Nathan's. They'll even tell you the water temperature and surf conditions.
LMAO. Thank you.
I've had several occasions to walk into a police station, to file a report or report a dangerous condition. The cop on duty always appeared annoyed. In one case he was trying to get me to admit that I was at fault. However. I have the solution, if there's a female cop there go to her and plead your case, I have found them much more cooperative than the guys who really don't want to do any work.
OMG, this is so timely!! Last week I called my local precinct and the phone rang 10 times and nobody answered. I hung up and sent a complaint to Bloomberg's office. Still haven't heard from Bloomberg's office. And we should vote for him....why???
A few years ago, I went into the West Village precinct to drop off a used coat when NY Cares does their coat drive every Christmas. I walked into the station and one of the police very nastily said, "How did you get in here?"
HaHa, ain't that the truth.
how did you get in here is right.
try getting into one police plaza.
It is an union job, what else do you expect? You can expect the same behavior from any customer-facing union worker.
It's gotten so bad you can't even phone in a decent bomb threat to a precinct house :(
Damn mafia.
If we could dock their pay, that would get them to answer the phones. Oh yeah...the union. (Why did Bloomberg roll over?)
I know it is not right in the grand scheme of things, but I do understand why the cops would hate answering the phone.
A long time ago I worked for a government agency where I had to deal with calls from the general public. It takes little effort for crazy or lonely people to call a public entity with concerns such as "the dog run near our building made my wife leave me," "the father of my 8th child won custody and he should not be able to do that," or "I just got out of Rikers and stuff comes out of my penis at night." I imagine they get the same kind of nonsense. It made up 90% of the calls I had.
I know it should not have to be this way, but if it is an emergency, call 911, if it is a quality of life concern, call 311, if it is something else, take the time to stop by the precint and let the cops know you are not insane.