911 caller gets an earful of laughter

911 caller gets an earful of laughter
'HELLO? HELLO?' Fireworks complaint gets no response
July 12, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter




Brigitte Biver called 311 about 9 p.m. on July 4 to report illegal fireworks so deafening that they sounded like they were exploding right over her Norwood Park home.

When Biver was transferred to Chicago's 911 emergency center, she thought she would get an even quicker response. Instead, all she got was laughter -- hysterical laughter.

"I have never heard anything like that in my life. This person was laughing uncontrollably. When she picked up the phone, she burst into laughter. She probably had been laughing for a while. I kept on saying, 'Hello. Hello.' But she couldn't talk. She never stopped laughing," said Biver, 58.

'She hung up on me'

"I finally said, 'I'd like to report some heavy fireworks activity.' She was still laughing as she asked where I was located. I said Norwood Park. Still laughing, she asked where in Norwood Park. Then, she said, 'Ma'am, you're gonna have to call back.' I said, 'Can I have your name please.' But she hung up on me."
Biver was furious. But she regained her composure long enough to dial 911 again, never mentioning the previous call.

This time, she got a different, coherent call taker. Biver reported the fireworks and said she wanted to remain anonymous. The call taker said she would send a patrol car. Biver's brother-in-law, who lives next door, went outside and saw a squad car down the block that turned the other way. The fireworks went on for another hour.

Biver said the fireworks scared her half to death. But the treatment she got from the first 911 call taker was even more frightening.

"She didn't know what I was calling about. Somebody could have been having a heart attack here. If it had been a life-or-death situation where seconds count, that's very dangerous. It's highly unprofessional in any setting," Biver said.

"I don't know whether she was laughing at me or whether there was a party going on there. All I know is there was laughing, and I couldn't get my message across. I was scared. You wouldn't believe the fireworks that went off over my roof. These were professional fireworks with big things that open up. They were coming toward my house. The debris was falling."


'Unprofessional behavior'
Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications, said the conduct Biver described "depicts unprofessional behavior."
But Smith said he is legally prohibited from discussing calls "where the caller requests anonymity." And until Biver files a formal complaint and provides enough information to identify the call, including the precise time, there is simply not enough information to go on.

"Are we interested in it? Yes. The circumstances that you have described depict unprofessional behavior. And if we are able to identify this, we will take steps," Smith said.

If the call taker was laughing because she was ridiculing Biver, it was totally inappropriate, Smith said.

Before the holiday weekend, police and fire officials encouraged people to call 911 to report illegal fireworks, as they do every year at this time. The 311 operator had every right to transfer the call, he said.

"Fireworks are illegal and they are dangerous. We received thousands of calls -- as we should have," Smith said.












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