JAMAICA-Listening to Rescue Inc. dispatch recently, I heard a paramedic asking if law enforcement would be on the scene they were currently working.
Dispatch: "Negative, they [Vermont State Police or any law enforcement] are not responding."
The police are not responding to calls because they are in an uproar about Vermont's laws, particularly the "Officer Use of Force Laws."
It's political.
How do I know this? Because two years ago I had the unfortunate experience of having to call 911 for a man who was having a mental health crisis and threatening to burn his house down and/or harm himself.
I am an old friend of the family, and his out-of-state daughter called me, hysterical, requesting I help him. I called 911 on my way to his house.
No one responded.
I waited for 2½ hours with this guy, in a tiny cabin full of loaded weapons. No one showed up at all to help. They left me, a 50-year-old lady, alone to deal with this person.
They never let me know they weren't coming - they said they tried to reach me but that I must have "been in a service void." But my concerned family was able to reach me without trouble. It was a flat lie. The police dispatch never called me back to tell me they were not responding.
The 911 dispatcher asked me two questions:
1. Was this person mentally ill?
2. Were there any weapons on the property?
Replying "yes" to both (either?) question apparently gave the state police the option to not respond! They did not acknowledge the call.
They ignored their duty to protect and serve. They now can choose whom to protect and/or serve, and if that's not worrisome to you, well, wait until it's you who needs help and no one comes to help you, and then see how you feel about it!
When I tried to file an official complaint, the top cop I talked to cited the Officer Use of Force Laws as the reason they did not respond. Despite being sent on a phone-tag runaround, I was never able to actually file a complaint in any official capacity. I was dismissed. Ignored.
They acknowledged being "sorry" I was put in that situation, but there was zero accountability - just a political lecture when I expressed my concerns.
I wonder if this was also the case when 29-year-old Matthew Gomes called 911 on himself twice prior to killing both of his parents in their Montpelier home, and no one responded until hours after he placed the calls, and they were already dead. Who showed up to protect and serve these folks? No one.
Calling 911 does not ensure that help will come. It's an option now. If they show up at all, it could be hours before they get to you in most towns.
This is a huge problem here in Vermont, and people need to be aware.
Mary Devens
Jamaica
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