March 29, 2001: Wacky 911 Calls - Leland Gregory
The Art Bell Archive · Arthur William Bell III
October 25, 20242h 45m
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Show Notes
Art Bell welcomes author and former 911 dispatcher Leland Gregory to share recordings from his CD "Wacky 911" and stories from his book "What's the Number for 911?" Gregory, a former writer for Saturday Night Live and co-author of the bestseller "America's Dumbest Criminals," spent years cultivating an underground network of dispatchers who traded their most memorable calls.
The recordings range from absurd to touching. A man stuck in a pool pump for three hours requires an industrial lubricant for extraction. A robbery victim, bound and gagged, desperately tries to communicate his address while operators ask him to spell it. A lonely elderly woman calls 911 because she cannot open her beer bottles, and the dispatcher kindly sends a police officer to help. The "Joe vs. the Deer" call features a motorist trapped in a phone booth by both a deer and a dog after a chaotic roadside encounter.
Gregory, who spent a year as a dispatcher in Monterey County, explains the dark humor that sustains people in the profession. He notes that cell phones have created a major burden on 911 centers, with hundreds of callers reporting the same fender bender and accidental pocket dials flooding emergency lines.
The recordings range from absurd to touching. A man stuck in a pool pump for three hours requires an industrial lubricant for extraction. A robbery victim, bound and gagged, desperately tries to communicate his address while operators ask him to spell it. A lonely elderly woman calls 911 because she cannot open her beer bottles, and the dispatcher kindly sends a police officer to help. The "Joe vs. the Deer" call features a motorist trapped in a phone booth by both a deer and a dog after a chaotic roadside encounter.
Gregory, who spent a year as a dispatcher in Monterey County, explains the dark humor that sustains people in the profession. He notes that cell phones have created a major burden on 911 centers, with hundreds of callers reporting the same fender bender and accidental pocket dials flooding emergency lines.