Heather Toshiko

So, tonight my colleagues and I are driving home from work. CAPTAIN tells us that there’s a blue Honda Civic that tried to take out a guard rail. As he tried to pass her, he had trouble because she couldn’t stay in her lane. Finally, he was able to pass her safely, but he had no cell phone signal so he couldn’t call in the DUI. Since I was about 2 minutes behind CAPTAIN, I ended up right behind DUI in a matter of minutes. I stayed back and watched to see if she was really drunk. Sure enough, she was drifting from line to line and trying to stay in her lane. Fortunately, my Blackberry had a signal so I dialed 911.

Ok. Let me just say that I have dialed 911 many, many times in California. I am on the road quite a bit and I have witnessed dozens of accidents and possible DUIces. Since I’m generally a good citizen, I usually phone them in. NEVER, EVER have I gotten through immediately. I usually get put on hold for several minutes and then get transferred to CHP dispatch who then transfer me to the local department that I need to speak to. The entire process has taken over 20 minutes at times. Imagine if I was bleeding out after an accident. I’d be dead before I got an operator. If ON STAR advertised these statistics, they’d sell a lot more cars.

So, back to my story… I dialed 911 from my Blackberry and settled in to wait for an answer. One ringy-dingy…”Santa Fe Police Department, what is your emergency?” What the hell? One ring? Anyway, I explained the situation and gave the dispatcher the tag and location of the vehicle. The dispatcher then asked if he could keep me on the line in case DUI got off the freeway. Keep me on the line? What? So, I proceeded to update him on the vehicle’s location and then he said that he was gonna hang up but gave me his name and asked me to call back if she transitioned to another freeway. How crazy is that??? They NEVER give out their names and ask you to call back. The guy was so nice too. Eventually, the car did switch freeways, and I called 911 again to update them. Once again, after ONE ring, the phone was answered and I relayed my message easily. I was totally amazed by the experience. I’ve never had such ease in dealing with local law enforcement on the phone. Kudos to Santa Fe PD and their 911 dispatchers!

*Addendum: As I mentioned above, she transitioned to another freeway and I notified dispatch. When she transitioned, I did not. The freeway she switched to was a desolate two-laner so I’m sure they caught her easily.