Monday, October 27, 2008
Special Agent Larry Carr of the Seattle Division of the FBI, has provided another 911 call from a Seattle bank robbery. There are lessons to be learned from these calls and Agent Carr's analysis, which follows:
In this robbery the suspect had been gone for almost six minutes when the police were contacted. After the robber exited, the victim employee activated her alarm. She then notified her manager who locked down the bank and distributed the robbery packets. The victim teller was put in the break room to complete her packet. A few minutes after they began filling out the packets the bank's alarm company called into the branch and confirmed with the manager they had been robbed.
The alarm company put the branch on hold and called the SPD. The alarm company is on the East Coast. The number the alarm called was SPD's non-emergency number. When you call this number you will hear a message that state's, "if this is an emergency, please hang up and call 911, if not, stay on the line and an operator will be with you as soon as possible." The alarm company cannot hang up and call 911 because they will reach the police agency in their jurisdiction on the East Coast.
So now they have to wait for an operator to pick up the phone.
So now you have a group of victims in West Seattle, on hold with a security company on the other side of the country, who is in turn on hold with the SPD, all trying to report a crime in progress, in West Seattle.
Some of the things you will hear on tape:
"you sure are calling us on the wrong number" followed by, "it's all I have in my info."
How long has this security company been calling the non-emergency number to report bank robberies in Seattle?
The manager is on the phone when he is patched through to SPD and cannot answer any questions, he then has to put the phone down and go off to find the teller.
But listen close; at 1:26:00 into the call what do you hear in the background? Sirens. SPD was able to process the call, dispatch the call and an officer on-scene in one minute and 26 seconds. Doesn’t matter because the robber had been gone for at least seven minutes and 26 seconds; to that end, officers have no idea who they are looking for, the victim teller was put in a room to fill out a form.
Because of editing out identifying info, the first few seconds play a bit rough; at 49 seconds the additional voice you hear is the dispatcher breaking in.
Alarm call audio file
In this robbery the suspect had been gone for almost six minutes when the police were contacted. After the robber exited, the victim employee activated her alarm. She then notified her manager who locked down the bank and distributed the robbery packets. The victim teller was put in the break room to complete her packet. A few minutes after they began filling out the packets the bank's alarm company called into the branch and confirmed with the manager they had been robbed.
The alarm company put the branch on hold and called the SPD. The alarm company is on the East Coast. The number the alarm called was SPD's non-emergency number. When you call this number you will hear a message that state's, "if this is an emergency, please hang up and call 911, if not, stay on the line and an operator will be with you as soon as possible." The alarm company cannot hang up and call 911 because they will reach the police agency in their jurisdiction on the East Coast.
So now they have to wait for an operator to pick up the phone.
So now you have a group of victims in West Seattle, on hold with a security company on the other side of the country, who is in turn on hold with the SPD, all trying to report a crime in progress, in West Seattle.
Some of the things you will hear on tape:
"you sure are calling us on the wrong number" followed by, "it's all I have in my info."
How long has this security company been calling the non-emergency number to report bank robberies in Seattle?
The manager is on the phone when he is patched through to SPD and cannot answer any questions, he then has to put the phone down and go off to find the teller.
But listen close; at 1:26:00 into the call what do you hear in the background? Sirens. SPD was able to process the call, dispatch the call and an officer on-scene in one minute and 26 seconds. Doesn’t matter because the robber had been gone for at least seven minutes and 26 seconds; to that end, officers have no idea who they are looking for, the victim teller was put in a room to fill out a form.
Because of editing out identifying info, the first few seconds play a bit rough; at 49 seconds the additional voice you hear is the dispatcher breaking in.
Alarm call audio file
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