More than once in our family business did we get a 'customer' to vacate the premises after getting out of hand and threatening employees. An offer to have the police come sort things out via being on phone usually made the trouble makers leave without further incident.
One decided he would 'call our bluff' and the cops arrived a few minutes later, heard both sides of the discussion, asked for ID from the guy, then arrested him for an outstanding warrant.
911 is not a joke. It is an overloaded system in just about every area where it is used. Usually, taxpayers do not want to pay for the extra 911 operators, fire, and police personnel to make the system work to its potential.
Okay, so there is a driveby shooting with no known injuries. Is that really an incident that needs response by the police compared to those incidents going on where there are actual people getting injured? No. Sure, we would like to see the boys in blue roll out every time something goes wrong, but until we are willing to double or triple the size of the personnel and equipment in emergency response services, 911 is not going to be effective. And even when there are people hurt, just how many things are going on at that time where other people are hurt or resources have already been allocated. Unfortunately, each caller does not get immediate and total attention of emergency support services. There is no way for that to happen with the way things are right now.
Personally, I don't know which is the bigger joke, the folks who think 911 is their savior or those folks who tell you 911 is their savior. For some strange reason, between the two groups, there are those who think they are no longer responsible for their own welling being. There is a whole other group of people who feel that the police are there to 'serve' them for whatever needs they have from unruly dogs, loud stereos, etc.
911 isn't a joke, but just because you called it does not mean that you are now everybodies' top priority. That is reality and we all have to deal with it.
It amazes me. In Dallas, the mayor does not want to give raises to the PD and Fire Departments, raises that are long over due because that would cause a budget shortfall. And yet people blame the fire and police departments for not being johnny on the spot. Why we don't pay the people who risk their lives for us more money is beyond me. Why those people risk their lives for what they get paid is beyond me.