Thank you for calling 911. May I have your credit card # please?

[Bob Hubbard]

[SIZE=+1]Tracy, CA Residents Now Have To Pay For 911 Calls[/SIZE]
http://cbs13.com/local/tracy.911.calls.2.1502690.html

Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year which allows them to call 9-1-1 as many times as necessary.

Or, there's the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead, they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Wtf?

 

[terryl965]

WOW simply WOW :erg:

 

[MJS]

WOW!!! I could see having a small charge for calling 411, to have them look up a number for you, but to call 911....thats crazy. I'm curious to know what the reasoning behind this was.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

A broke state, a broke city.

 

[Ken Morgan]

So if you see a crime in progress, or an accident what are the odds you're going to call 911?

It's a user fee, but many users call not for themselves but for others.

 

[MJS]

A broke state, a broke city.

Always a possibility. Supposedly my state is in the red as well, yet the 2 casinos that we have here, give millions each year. Where does that money go? Hmmm...makes ya wonder.

Still, $300 every time you want to call? Even the $48/yr is crazy. I'm sure there're other ways to increase cash revenue if need be.

 

[Carol]

So if you see a crime in progress, or an accident what are the odds you're going to call 911?

I'd guess that chances are excellent, because the $300 charge is for medical emergencies only.

It sounds to me as if the PSAPs (the 911 centers) are trying for a piece of the health insurance pie, like ambulance drivers did when they billed the patient's health insurance for their services and provided them to the town for free.

What angers me is that E-911 lifeline service was an unfunded FCC mandate. FCC made the rules that telephone carriers needed to meet a sert of standards for 911 service, and the carriers were required to bear all associated costs. Billions of dollars wer spent with this upgrade. In addition, American consumers are paying for this as well. The "universal service fee" included in telephone bills is to help cover lifeline service for poor and rural subscribers. Some states have taken this one step further and insisted that individual businesses/organizations that have more than a given number of phone lines must have their own connection to a local PSAP.

If the Federal government can require all operators and manufacturers to conform to a particular spec, on their own dime, than how can it be OK for a city to indiscriminately add an expensive toll to 911 service?

 

[Flea]

A couple of fatalities and this will be sued out of existence.

 

[Blade96]

Wtf?

exactly.

 

[Archangel M]

I wonder if you get charged if you call their dispatch center direct? As in 555-5555 vs 911?

 

[Marginal]

WOW!!! I could see having a small charge for calling 411, to have them look up a number for you, but to call 911....thats crazy. I'm curious to know what the reasoning behind this was.

There seems a recent uptick in idiots using the service.

"You're out of lemonade, McDonald's? I'm calling 911!"

 

[MJS]

There seems a recent uptick in idiots using the service.

"You're out of lemonade, McDonald's? I'm calling 911!"

I couldn't agree more with you. 8yrs ago, when I started dispatching, I should've started a journal, listing all of the crazy 911 calls that I've taken.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Charge for non-emergency 911 calls?

 

[grydth]

There was just an article here about the "frequent fliers" who abuse the ambulance services, even using them as taxis and then stiffing them on the bill.

Of course these people will be able to get off without paying, as always.

What happens, though, to the working family just barely making ends meet that has to make a couple of calls to save a sick child.... how many of them have $600 just laying around?

As far as Good Samaritan calls, how many will now make that call to save another person when they will later be hounded by collections?

I wonder if other nonemergency numbers will now be deluged by callers.

 

[Archangel M]

I thought that we all paid a 911 surcharge on our cell phones to pay for 911 service.

 

[MJS]

I thought that we all paid a 911 surcharge on our cell phones to pay for 911 service.

I know I do. And IIRC, (I'll have to check my home phone bill) but I believe there is some sort of 'charge' that seems to cover stuff like this.

 

[jks9199]

We do pay a 911 access fee as part of our phone bill. (I don't think it's included in cell bills, though I'm not certain. That could be a small though not insignificant factor as more people are opting out of a landline phone...)

I'm not at all keen on the idea of charging for 911 calls; I don't want people hesitating to call 911, whether for rescue or police services. I don't want them using 911 in lieu of a family doctor or a car service medically, or calling 911 for a three-week stale larceny... but I'd rather have them call than not! We can always clear the emergency line.

I don't have a problem with ambulance fees. In fact, where I work, they don't charge if you don't insurance; I'd rather they did charge everyone, and waive the fee on demonstrated hardship.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

This is a User Fee, not a tax. There's a difference.

One's called a Fee, the other's not.

Duh.

 

[grydth]

A couple of fatalities and this will be sued out of existence.

Maybe even before that.

I can see the ACLU or SPLC going after this as limiting access to emergency services only to the rich. Since this is a public service, that may be unlawful. You may see a judicial injunction issued.