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Here are your times:
12:37 - alarm sounds at my home which notifies Monitronics (alarm system)
12:41 - Monitronics dispatched police
12:48 - Call goes to officer regarding the possible burglary at my home
13:12 - officer arrives at my home
13:18 - officer leaves my home
13:20 - I arrive at my home
Did you notice above that it took 7 minutes for dispatch to notify an officer of the possible break in?
Did you notice that it took the officer 24 minutes to arrive on the scene even though he was in Woodbury at the time? I can get to Woodbury city limits in 7 minutes from my home.
Did you notice that I made it from Murfreesboro in 32 minutes - only 8 minutes difference than the officer?
Now, why did it take 7 minutes to dispatch an officer? According to the dispatch center in Woodbury, the officer was on a call. Shouldn’t the call have been dispatched as soon as possible? The officer would have been able to make the decision as to which call he was needed the most at that time.
Should it have taken him 24 minutes to arrive? That seems like a long time considering I made it from Murfreesboro in 32 minutes without sirens or lights. According to Lieutenant Hall they don’t run with their lights and sirens on unless the caller states it is an emergency because they get tons of these type calls everyday where a dog or cat has set off the alarm.
Okay, this may be true but shouldn’t every call that goes through be treated as an emergency? I think it should but our law enforcement does not think so. If they had of treated this as an emergency, it would not have taken 7 minutes to dispatch an officer, 24 minutes to arrive and lights and sirens would have been used.
The officer did not even look through my home. Investigator Charlie Wilder and Lieutenant Hall states that they cannot enter the home without home owners present. That’s understandable but I called the dispatcher when I reached the flashing lights at Parsley’s to find out the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the officer. She called to him and asked the officer his ETA and stated that the homeowner was afraid of arriving before the officer so he was aware I was on my way.
Should the officer have left before I arrived? I think he should have waited for me to arrive and went through my home to make sure no one was hiding inside. Instead my husband had to do this.
When speaking with Lieutenant Hall I also found that only 2 deputies were on that day and he was the second. Only 2 deputies for the whole county? Once again, how safe are we?
Another question that I asked the dispatcher when I called to get these times was in an emergency shouldn’t we send out our city deputies? She did state that they can in an emergency.
How did they know in the beginning before talking to me that I was not held at gun point? Our law enforcement just assumed that day that it was not an emergency. Thank God it wasn’t because I have 2 small children.
I spoke with Sheriff Nichols about this incident as well. However, he blew me off by saying, “I will check into this situation and hopefully it will not happen again.” Have I heard from Sheriff Nichols as to what his plan may be? No, not a word.
My opinion - There should never be only 2 deputies on for the whole county. That is ridiculous and crazy on the Sheriff’s part to allow this to happen. Okay, you are short staffed, then earn your living Sheriff and get in that car yourself and check out these emergency calls such as mine that day. Be aware of what is going on in your county.
I have had to call on the emergency system one other time in which I was not happy. When my son was 8 days old, he choked on a mucus plug from birth and turned blue 3 different times. Thank God I am a nurse because when I called 911, Roy Sullivan answered. During my frantic call I had to ask him if he was there 3 different times. I explained to him what had happened; he dispatched out emergency personnel to me but never once gave me the first instruction as we see on TV during emergency calls. After my son’s recovery, I called back just as I have in this situation to find out some important information. When I spoke to Roy Sullivan about why the dispatcher didn’t give me instruction on how to take care of my son, his exact words were “If I recall that day your son was crying.” At this point I knew he was the one that answered my 911 call. He then stated that you have to be certified to give out instructions. Roy Sullivan is the director over our 911 system and what he was telling me 2 years ago when this happened was he was not certified to give me instructions.
What is up with that? Once again, how safe are we in Cannon County when the director of 911 is not certified, answers the phone as dispatcher for 911 and cannot give you instructions when your child is turning blue?
Roy Sullivan may say as he said that day “We had first responders at your home in 3 minutes.” And that is great if he had been more prepared. The man entered my yard, I ran out with my son and met him. He was as scared as I was. He held my son in the air saying, “breathe baby breathe,” took him to his vehicle and placed oxygen on him which ran out before the ambulance arrived. My husband came all the way from the other side of East Side School and arrived at our home, helped me work on our son before the ambulance arrive. On this occasion, it took 4 minutes for the EMT’s to load up in the ambulance according to the dispatcher. What is up with that? Four minutes!! Emergency means now, not later. Maybe we should overhaul our emergency system - hire new people who care.
I know there are problems in emergency are, I work it everyday as a nurse but never do I assume that an emergency is not an emergency. Every call should be treated as an emergency. I think that we deserve an explanation of your plan of action to improve the emergency system here in Cannon County.
From a concerned citizen.
Melissa Hedrick
Woodbury, TN 37190
