85: This Bloody Crime Saved Our Lives: The Dark History of 911 | Dark History with Bailey Sarian
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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory.

Hi friends, how are you today? I hope you're having a wonderful day so far. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my study. Yay! And to my podcast, Dark History. Now if you're new here, this is a chance to tell the story like it is and to share the history of stuff we would never think about. So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and let's talk about that hot, juicy history, Gus.

Okay, today's story, let me tell you. Some of you may already know that I have a personal connection to the phone number 911. And for those of you out there who don't know, my mother was a 911 dispatcher while I was growing up. And there were like some days where she would bring me along with her to work at the call center and I fricking loved it. Ugh.

Which is maybe not a surprise to you, but it was exciting. I got to go sit right next to my mom in my own chair in front of like that big 911 dispatcher screen. I even got my own like little headset situation and I would just listen in. And fun fact, 75% of 911 dispatchers are women. Literally like all my mom's coworkers were women. Except for one, but you know.

Facts. Now, I was just a kid, so the 911 calls weren't really that scary to me for some reason.

probably most likely because I just didn't understand what was going on. But there was this one call that had a lasting impression on young Bailey's brain forever. One time, a call came into 911 from a man who, he sounded pretty calm, to be honest, maybe a little too calm, but he was calling to report that his dog had found something a little unusual. Now, my mom couldn't quite hear him at first, and she was like, he found a what? Excuse me, sir, a what? A head?

A head. This man's dog had gotten out. He left the house. And when he showed back up at the front door, he had a human head in his mouth. What? I know. Questions. Lots of them. So my mom connected with the police department and sent someone out there to investigate. And that was the last anyone heard of it.

I mean, for me as a kid, I was like, "But what kind of dog was it?" Like, I want to know. But thankfully, kids have such free little minds, by the following week, I was able to let that go and face the fact that I'd probably never know the ending to that story, but it made me realize that dispatchers really never get closure either. And this is most likely the reality of many 911 dispatchers out there.

So naturally, me being that curious little cat that I am, it got me asking the question, when did 911 start? You know, where does it even come from?

Why do we have it? It's helpful, but I wanted to know more. Now it's kind of hard to believe, but back in the day, there was no 911. Before the 1950s, if you had an emergency, you would call the police, but there was like a few problems with that. First, you needed access to a phone. And unfortunately for many,

they didn't have the money for them you know and then even if you did it's like what was the number for the police it was some long ass number and most of all if you did get to a phone and you got that police's number there was no guarantee you were going to get through it would take a major disaster that was on the front of every paper in the world to finally get people asking

Who do we call in an emergency? Not Ghostbusters, because I know you're all saying that at home. Stop it. Well, there was a huge event that happened back in 1912 that made people really realize that we needed some sort of emergency service that we could all rely on, right? And that huge event was the sinking of the Titanic. Oh yeah, we're bringing the Titanic into this. Get in here, Titanic. Come have a seat on the couch.

You see, the dispatcher on the Titanic was trying to radio for help.

but the calls went unanswered. And maybe if there were some formal system in place, those 1500 souls who died potentially could have been saved. So because of all this, England is actually the first country to act on this idea. They put an emergency number in place before anyone else on the planet, but their number was 999, which I found interesting because nine is the last number on a rotary phone.

So it's like, and that's what they're using. So you'd have to go all the way around, you know? And dialing it three times kind of takes a while. It's like, you gotta wait for it.

It's like if you're dying, do you want to wait that long? No. But they actually chose this because nine is the easiest number to find on a rotary phone, especially if you're in like a dark room or maybe there's smoke in the area. In other words, if you're in like an emergency situation, everyone kind of knew where nine was. Couldn't miss it. If it were up to me, it would be 111, right? But

Who am I? No one comes to me for answers in 1912. It's pretty smart, everyone knows where nine's at, right? But honestly, I was like, I think they just want you to die. Because I mean, that takes a long time.

Weed 'em out. But this episode is all about 9-1-1, which belongs to the good ol' United States of America, baby. And the origin of this iconic number starts, once again, with a very dark story. Hi, this is Dark History. You think it's gonna be all rainbows and lollipops? No.

It's dark. Which brings us to Queens, New York, baby. And the year is 1964. Now, New York City during this time, they were having like a huge spike in violent crimes. There were tons of muggings happening in the streets, murders taking place all around, stores constantly getting robbed.

and there seemed to be more and more victims of rape. Well, on March 13th, 28-year-old Kitty Genovese was ending her shift at the local bar where she worked as a manager. Now, this evening was like so many others for her. She does her closing duties, grabs her things, and then...

you know, starts heading home. Now mind you, when she got off this night, it was about 3:00 AM and you know, nothing good seems to happen around this time, but it's what time she got off. So Kitty drives herself home to her neighborhood called Kew Gardens. Now Kew Gardens is a pretty big diverse community within Queens, but at the same time, it also had like that small town vibe. And that's why Kitty and her girlfriend chose this neighborhood. It felt safe.

Kitty parks her car across the street from her apartment, just ready to call it a night, you know? But what Kitty didn't know was that she wasn't alone. A stranger was lurking in the shadows following Kitty home. And I'm not just trying to be creepy. There were lots of shadows because the thing about Kew Gardens is that there weren't any street lights at the time. Spooky, huh? Kitty gets out of her car. She walks across the street to her apartment complex and then

Suddenly, she's ambushed. A man jumps out of the bushes and stabs her twice with like a big ol' hunting knife in her back. Kitty lets out a blood-curdling scream, saying like, "Oh my god, he stabbed me!" Unfortunately, the second stab had punctured Kitty's lung, and she was no longer able to scream.

Terrifying, oh my god. Now it's too dark for Kitty's neighbors to see like what's going on outside, but it's clear that there's something bad going on. And a guy even yells out his window like "leave that girl alone!" Now this scares Kitty's attacker. He ends up taking off, leaving Kitty bleeding on the sidewalk. This is a pretty busy neighborhood and a lot is going on at night, so screaming like really wasn't out of the ordinary around there.

So people, they're like, "Oh, someone's screaming, probably having a party, whatever." And they go back to sleep, you know? But it wasn't because they didn't care. It's just, it was kind of like a normal thing. And this kind of reminded me of when I lived in my small apartment in Los Angeles. Like I would always hear screaming and it just became a normal to the point where you didn't think twice about it. Oh my God, I'm part of the problem. Oh God. So one neighbor opened the door and saw Kitty bleeding out. He didn't want to call the police.

And there's a horrible reason why. He was actually a part of the queer community and many of Kitty's neighbors were also members of the queer community. If you remember back to our Pride episode, the queer community and the New York Police Department did not get along.

This all came to a head during the Stonewall riots because it was essentially illegal to be gay at this time. So someone else who had heard Kitty did call the police, but since this was before 911, they didn't respond until much later. Since no one is coming to help Kitty, who was still bleeding on the ground,

You know what happens? Bitch. Her attacker, he comes back for Kitty because she's still there. And he's like, "Ah, no one's coming for her." So this shithead continues to stab Kitty at least 14 times. Then he raped her. And then he just like left her there to die. Just feet away from her apartment entrance.

So sad. But eventually another neighbor finally comes outside to like see what was going on, only to find Kitty covered in blood, barely alive. This neighbor comforts Kitty, just hoping help is on the way. But before the police arrive, Kitty takes her last breath and she dies in their arms. Now this story ends up being front page news

The whole country knew Kitty's name, and everyone was feeling terrified of the same thing happening to them. Many were thinking, "Hey, if you can't walk in your own neighborhood safely, what does this say about America?" And if you can't even rely on your neighbors or your community to help you when you're in a crisis, who the hell can you count on, right?

Once again, they needed to figure out what the hell to do in an emergency. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?

What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash DarkHistory today to get 10% off your first month.

That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash dark history. A few months after Kitty's death, riots started to break out across the state. First in Harlem, then Brooklyn. So Americans wanted a guarantee of safety. And they started calling on the president at the time, Lyndon B. Johnson. They're like, hey, he needs to do something.

What's he doing? Lyndon seemed to be asleep at the wheel while the country continued to panic. I mean, Kitty's murder just added fuel to the fire while a long hot summer of police riots and chaos rocked not only New York, but the whole freaking country. Historians actually called the summer of 1964 the quote, long hot summer of crime.

End quote. Great. That sounds great. It's not until the next year at his State of the Union speech that good old Lyndon B. Johnson decides to take a stand. On January 8th, 1965, President Johnson tells the country, quote, every citizen has the right to feel secure in his home and on the streets of his community, which is

We can all agree, right? Great. But he rolls out a program called the Crime Commission to start figuring out how to reduce crime. This commission probably takes one look around at the mostly white police officers and realizes exactly why there's so much fear and tension between communities of color and the cops. Not only was their relationship with minority communities bad,

but there wasn't enough minority representation in the police force. Two years later, in 1967, the Crime Commission came out with a report titled "The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society." Now this thing was like hundreds of pages long and supposedly had solutions for everything from police to the courts,

It's a prison, you know? So the commission's report gave them all instructions on how to fix this. But Johnson said the most important thing is getting police and residents working together to fight crime. And who knows? Maybe there should just be one place everyone can call to get help.

Idea! So in 1968, AT&T, which at the time operated almost all phone connections in the country, establishes an emergency line and they decide on 911. I know, I was like, why 911? Well, it had to be short, right? Easy to remember. And most importantly, 911 had never been an area code or service code yet in the United States.

Perfect. People were also still using rotary phones where you had to spin that dial. So the shorter the number, the better. At least one, you know, one one, that nine still. The very first 911 call was placed on February 16th, 1968 in Haleyville, Alabama. Apparently the people of Haleyville are real proud of this little trivia.

Love that for them, you know? Right from the very start, there were concerns that 9-1-1 would be weaponized and potentially used to target people of color. And that concern wasn't a crazy one to have because right away, things were looking a little

Suspish, you know what I'm saying? Questionable. That first 911 call actually had nothing to do with an emergency. Yeah, okay. It was basically announcing to the public that 911 is officially open for business. A soft launch, some might say. They had a whole ceremony for it. Yeah, they were real excited. And a state representative dialed 911 for the first time to show the people how it worked, you know? He's like, look, all you have to do is dial 911

One, one.

Easy. You're welcome. And on the other end answered a U.S. congressman who was using the police department's special emergency red phone. As you can imagine, anytime a new technology shows up on the scene, it takes like a little while to work out all the kinks, you know? So from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, the 911 system was pretty informal. There was only about 17% of Americans who had access to it in those early days.

But don't let that low number fool you, because as soon as 911 debuted on the scene, the calls were flooding in. Like everyone was getting stabbed. They were really finding out how much crime was really happening at that time. It was a lot. In 1973, just five years after the service launched, New York City was bombarded with about 4.2 million emergency calls. And that was just between January and July.

Then, when the summer months rolled around, it wasn't crazy for the city to get around 20,000 911 calls per day. I get about 20,000 spam calls per day. Am I right, Joan? Pound it. All right. They knew that they needed help answering all of those calls, right? So they got to hiring more dispatchers. And at this time, it didn't take much to get a job as a dispatcher. The criteria for recruitment and training wasn't...

You know, like that difficult. In order to get this job, people usually only had to complete a one-hour program.

One hour, you know, better than nothing, I guess. Essentially, if you had a pulse, you're in. Get your butt over here with the Titanic. And since the training was so informal, stuff definitely fell through the cracks, you know? There were lots of problems, like some emergencies being miscategorized and wires getting crossed when trying to collaborate with police and fire departments. It was a hot mess.

But to be fair, local governments were still figuring things out. It wasn't until a fateful 911 call in Arizona that changed the way dispatchers... This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.

Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts.

discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?

What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory.

Dark history. The year was 1975, and by all accounts, it was just another normal day in Phoenix, Arizona. Sun is melting people.

people golfing. But then a harrowing 911 call comes in. The dispatcher answers, you know, "Hello 911, what's your emergency?" And on the other end of the call was a terrified mother. Her worst fear was unfolding right in front of her very eyes. Her baby was non-responsive and not breathing. Oh god, so scary, you know? And on that day, a man named Bill Toon happened to be in the dispatch center. You see, Bill, he was a paramedic.

And when he heard what was going on with the baby, he jumped right into action. Bill got on the phone with that horrified mother, calmed her down, and then walked her through like a pre-arrival instructions for when the paramedics arrived. I don't fully know what the pre-instructions were, but what I do know

is that everyone involved said that if not for Bill and his paramedic knowledge, the baby would not have survived. Just for some closure, the baby did survive, all thanks to Bill. Now that's when a major light bulb went off in people's heads across the nation.

You know, "Oh, these dispatchers are like the first responders, really. We should probably give them some formal training like we do with paramedics." It's kind of crazy that people didn't think of this before, but again, 911, still a new thing. So the Phoenix Fire Chief put together a medical self-help program called Lifeline to offer formal pre-arrival instructions.

And then, in 1977, a man named Dr. Jeff Claussen took the Lifeline program and beefed it up a bit. Now, Dr. Jeff created the Medical Priority Dispatch System, and this put formal protocols in place that still provide the basis for today's dispatchers. Now, Dr. Jeff, he came up with three major steps. The first step was to establish something called situational awareness.

This is a set of questions about what the emergency is, what's going on around the collar, and honestly, where the hell they are in the local area. Like, what's your cross street?

I hate when people ask me that. I'm like, "I don't know. I'm next to the CVS." Don't ask me that. I don't know where I'm at 90% of the time. But from those three questions, they figured out how to best help people. I mean, it's not always that simple a lot of the time. Like if someone's car is on fire on the side of a freeway, unless they're by an exit sign, they don't really know where they're at most of the time. So a lot of the times they'd call and you might hear something like the following.

A live reenactment. Here I go. Hi, 911. Yes, my car is on fire on the side of the freeway. Please send help. And then the dispatcher would be like, Sir, can you calm down? Can I get your location? Uh, I don't know. It just smells like hot beef and bad decisions. He's near Greasy Matt's Strip Club.

The second step would be getting pre-arrival instructions for the first responders. This is so dispatchers can make sure there aren't any threats to the police or fire department who are showing up, you know, so they can get to you quickly. Like, if you're trapped in a freaky abandoned Saw movie house, are there any booby traps they should avoid? Is the front door locked?

Is there a psycho parakeet that attacks intruders? Really anything that might get in help's way or like slow them down, you know? And third, determining that the right resources are dispatched to the right place at the right time. So if there's a fire, the dispatcher needs to know, you know, to send a fire truck. And if there is a psycho parakeet,

Bring animal control. Dr. Jeff's process then evolved into something called the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch Protocols. In the early 80s, a game changer arrives on the scene.

Dispatchers were now given more medical training so they'd be able to coach someone who called in through a life-saving treatment over the phone. Things like CPR. This was huge because the sooner a victim can be treated, the more likely they are to survive. Nowadays, because of all these requirements, it's way harder to get a job as a 911 dispatcher. I mean, from what I've read, the interview process is very intense.

you submit an application, you have to take a written test, and if you pass that, you move on to an interview with like a panel of people.

This is called the oral board interviews. In some places, you even have to do a polygraph, psychological exam, and a medical exam. If you nail all of that, then you just gotta wait for that background check. They interview tons of people in your life and just really make sure you're right for the job. And if you do get the job after that, there's a good chance I'll be put on a probationary contract where you have to prove yourself at the job before getting a full offer. What I mean is we ask a lot of

of dispatchers. I mean, does the president have to go through this? No, right? At the end of the day, they have to play the role of police officer, psychologist, medical professional, and dispatcher, you know? A lot of the time, their job isn't just about sending the call to the right place. It's all about saving someone's life.

It's a very, very important position. But the average salary of a 911 dispatcher is about $20,000 less than the overall average American salary. Yeah, what the heck? And sadly, dispatchers haven't gotten a lot of recognition or respect, and often they can get taken for granted. I mean, once a year, there's something called the National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, which is essentially a dispatcher's appreciation week. But it's not like we give them a day off. You

You know, I mean, if we did give him a day off, lots of people would die. And, you know, is an appreciation week really enough? Appreciation doesn't pay bills. Give him money. God damn it.

I mean, think about it. You never really have a chance to thank a 911 dispatcher. You're just kind of like, oh, that's their job. It's what they're trained to do, right? And it's not just the everyday person who thinks that. I mean, it's pretty across the board. Even though a career as a 911 dispatcher can be very rewarding, it's also extremely difficult.

The hours are really long and you can't really have an off day. I mean, all 911 calls are recorded, so if something on the call doesn't go right or maybe the person dies,

The first person investigated and potentially disciplined is the 911 dispatcher. Sometimes 911 dispatchers will be pulled into court to listen to the call and even have to testify about it. Plus, handling 911 calls means you're helping people who are in a very desperate situation all day, every day.

Sometimes they're in a violent situation or sometimes they're calling 911 because they're having thoughts about harming themselves. 911 dispatchers are exposed to pretty traumatic situations. I mean, even if they are just in a call center, they're still taking on a lot, you know? And dispatchers are trained to not show any emotion at all, you know, so it doesn't heighten the situation. So it's like now you have to be an actor too. That's hard.

I mean, all this takes a toll on 911 dispatchers' psychological state. It can even cause physical problems like chronic migraines or stomach aches. And it's really all a result of extreme stress from all the trauma. This is an issue not just with 911 dispatchers, but with first responders all over.

and there's really not many resources for them to go and talk to someone about what they're experiencing. As a result of all of this, there have been some studies into something called EMD post-traumatic stress disorder. An estimated 18 to 24% of dispatchers experience EMT/PTSD. Because there are some days where just a bunch of prank phone calls or low-risk phone calls come in, and others are just one horrible thing after the next.

I mean, there's really no way to predict what kind of day you're going to have. And this can cause not only physical health issues we talked about, but also mental health issues. It just all takes a toll. Sadly, the suicide rate among first responders is reported to be 10 times higher than the national American average. It's just so sad.

because 911 dispatchers really do save lives on the daily. And they never get thanked or get closure unless it's some big news story. There's actually a story I read that truly shooketh me to the core. It was about a woman whose life was saved by 911. To this day, the woman has never publicly released her name or age. So I'm assuming, you know, she just wants her privacy respected.

So we'll call her Jane Doe. It's kind of like a very real murder mystery makeup moment we're having right now, huh, Joan? This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year. So you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. Now let's get back to our story. In the summer of 2016, Jane, she made a new friend, and his name was Sean Great. So the two of them, they meet at a community center in Ashland, Ohio. They both lived in this area, and the two of them really hit it off. They played sports together, and within a few months, Jane was good friends with Sean.

Now, Sean was a divorced dad who seemed nice and just wanted some friends, you know? Jane felt comfortable with Sean pretty much right away because he had this very...

calm, big brother energy, you know? So the two of them would talk about everything from life to the good old Bible. And Jane even described him as goofy and sweet. So when Sean invited Jane to a special hangout one summer day, you know, she didn't hesitate. Apparently, Sean invited Jane to go to a special spot where he used to hang out and like watch the 4th of July fireworks. So he tells Jane that it was a fort he built, you know,

It was kind of out of the way. But instead, it was actually hours out of the way. Hours. While they were on the walk towards this quote-unquote fort, Jane was holding on to her Bible, just trusting her new friend was indeed taking them to a cool spot. First of all, Sean was in his late 30s, so, I mean, you know, you don't really meet a lot of guys in their late 30s building forts. So that in itself is a little...

"Hmm, you know, just thought." And why would Sean lead Jane so far out of town to see the fireworks? Well, either way, I guess Jane didn't really mind. Sean really seemed to be like a safe Christian man to be around. But sadly, as soon as they got to that fort, Sean's real personality would come out. And let me tell you, he was not a good Christian man. He didn't bring Jane to see fireworks. He brought her to an abandoned house in the middle of frickin' nowhere.

Run, Jane, run! Pretty much as soon as Jane got to this house,

Sean started acting a little differently. Jane was getting all uncomfortable. She wants to leave, but Sean wouldn't let her. He physically stopped her, ripped the Bible out of her hands, and told her she wasn't going anywhere. And then when she tried to get away, he got physically violent with her and started beating her and doing everything he could so Jane would not escape. Eventually, Sean was able to drag Jane into the house and tie her up.

And sadly, he sexually assaulted her. He kept Jane captive for a few days in this abandoned house and just kept beating her, sexually assaulting her, just being fucking awful, you know? He also made sure to keep Jane tied up near her at all times so she couldn't do anything without him. I mean, not even go to the bathroom. Now, in case she did manage to escape.

Sean had somehow tricked up the house so anytime a door or window would open, it would make a really loud sound and, you know, let him know that she was doing something. Then, after three days of torture, a miracle happened. Sean had Jane tied up in the downstairs bedroom with him.

Now, as soon as Sean fell asleep, Jane knew like this was her one shot to get out. So she's like looking around the room, you know, and she saw his phone next to him. So while she was tied up, she managed to lean over him and grab the phone all while he's asleep. You know, don't wake him. And once she had that phone, she called the people she knew she could depend on to save her life.

9-1-1. Jane quietly called 9-1-1, trying to stay as quiet as possible so she wouldn't wake up psychopath Sean over here, you know? As soon as Jane got on the phone with 9-1-1, the dispatcher got to work figuring out the situational awareness. Jane was only able to give the dispatcher a little bit of information. I mean, Sean did make her walk for hours on the other side of town to an abandoned house, like,

She doesn't know where she's at, you know? But Jane was able to label a couple of landmarks nearby, which helped the dispatcher figure out which abandoned house he was holding her captive in. As Jane was quietly trying to give the dispatcher information, she accidentally knocked into Sean's

So on the phone, she's like, "Oh shit." And then the dispatcher instructed her to put the phone down and not talk unless she has to. The dispatcher knew the most important thing was keeping Jane safe and alive. And it was a good call because Sean does wake up. He puts his feet down on the floor and contemplates getting up for a second. I mean, Jane in this moment,

Probably thought like this was the end. But thankfully, Sean, I guess, is still groggy. He lays back down and he goes back to sleep. Meanwhile, Jane is remaining calm and she puts the phone down without Sean noticing. So once she's like absolutely 100% sure that Sean is back asleep, she picks up the phone and the dispatcher is still on the line.

They're just like, "Oh, thank God," right? By this time, the dispatcher is in communication with the nearby police, but they still need more information from Jane. They don't know where she's at exactly. At some point during this part of the call, Jane is able to untie herself, get into a corner of the room, and continue to quietly talk to the dispatcher for another 20 minutes. And in these minutes, they're trying to figure out how the police officers can get to Jane,

without waking up Sean and putting her into even more danger. Thanks to the 911 dispatcher, the police were able to locate the house, find Jane, and save her life. And then of course, the police put Sean under arrest, and it was later discovered that Sean was not only a violent rapist, but a serial killer who had murdered five different women. Holy shit, I know. We need to do a full murder mystery on this, huh?

I'm in. If it weren't for Jane's bravery and the 911 dispatcher's guidance, Jane, she could have possibly been like victim number six, you know? So Sean was eventually convicted and sentenced to the death penalty. And I guess he's set to be executed in 2025. So...

That's good. I think this story is a perfect example of how important being a 911 dispatcher is. The dispatcher that spoke to Jane had to keep three things in mind. Get information out of her. Get that important information to police. And then also, make sure Jane stays calm and, you know, doesn't create like a bigger scene. So I think it's safe to say that 911, they save a lot of lives and they do a lot of good. But, you know...

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Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. Dot com slash Dark History. There's been a lot of talk, especially recently, about people abusing the system. I mean, since the very start of 9-1-1, it's been abused by people with questionable motives to target very specific people and groups.

Like when that Karen called the police in 2020 on a black man that was birdwatching in Central Park. Birdwatching. Poor guy. He's just watching birds. The most innocent. Birds! The most innocent little hobby. Some bitch called 911 on him. For what?

Exactly. Black Americans make up about 13% of the American population, but according to Mapping Police Violence, a nonprofit, they account for 27% of people who were shot and killed by police in 2021. This means that black people are more than twice as likely to be shot and killed by police than white people. Sometimes these Karens and Kens out there, they know exactly what they're doing.

and other times maybe they don't. But either way, when they get an itchy dialing finger, it can have very deadly and very real consequences. In 2018 in Philadelphia, two black men were waiting to have a real estate meeting in a Starbucks when the manager decided to call 911 on them just for being at a Starbucks, I guess. The cops showed up and arrested them. For what, you ask?

I don't even know. I don't even know. Voidering? I don't know. Then in Pennsylvania, some white golfers called 911 on five black women because they decided they were playing golf too slowly. But then there are even worse stories like 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Now Tamir was just being a kid

playing outside with a pellet gun in Cleveland Park when someone decided to call 911. The caller reported that there was a guy outside pointing a gun. The caller also said the gun might be fake, but I guess that information didn't make it to the responding officers. Police ended up showing up and guess what they did? They shot Young Tamir to death. A 14-year-old boy for playing outside...

Racially motivated 911 calls are such a problem in America that some city and state governments are now passing laws to get it under control. In 2020, New Jersey made it a crime to make discriminatory 911 calls. While using 911 to make a fake report has always been illegal, this new law has big penalties when someone weaponizes 911 to intimidate someone based on their race,

religion, gender, and other categories. The same year, San Francisco made a city law that bans 911 calls motivated by racism. They define this as someone who has the, quote, specific intent to discriminate. So this came into existence after there was a bunch of high-profile incidents, which included a white woman who called 911 on a black family just...

because they were enjoying a barbecue in the park. Now, some of you may remember this because a video went viral and this woman became known as Barbecue Becky. Anyone who's wearing those Dog the Bounty Hunter glasses, they're up to no good. I think that's safe to say. Yeah, I said it.

I said it. So there's another call that came in. I guess it was like a couple. They were calling the police on a man in their neighborhood. Well, guess what this guy was doing? He was writing Black Lives Matter in chalk in front of his own home. God, you guys get fucking lives. Don't call 911. Go inside and color. Go color an adult coloring book, will ya? For Christ's sakes.

Just leave people alone. I'm sick of this place. I'm going to Jupiter. So people in San Francisco got fed up and they did something about it. Listen to this. The name of the law they passed is called the Caution Against Racial and Exploitative Non-Emergencies Act. Now I know that's a mouthful, but it's known as the CAREN Act because it stands, caution against racial and it spells out CAREN. Isn't that funny? I kind of liked that. I mean, I love that law, but like,

I also like the name, it's clever. Snaps to you, San Fran. And then the entire state of California introduced a similar law to make 911 calls like this a hate crime on the state level. And here's another crazy thing I learned. All over the country, there are local laws that say if you call 911 too many times, like within a certain time period, this part blew my mind. You can actually like be evicted from where you live, forcibly evicted from where you live.

So the city just forces your landlord to kick you out if you call 911 more than like three times. Make it make sense is what I was thinking. Let me give you an example. In Norristown, Pennsylvania, if you call 911 three or more times within four months,

Out. They'll kick you out of where you live. Huh? I know. I don't get it. What? How does that make sense? I can understand, like, okay, if you're calling, like, 20 times a month, okay, maybe you should just... Maybe not evict you, but, like, you know, flag the caller or something. But...

It doesn't make sense. So let's say you live in a neighborhood that has a high crime. It could be very easy to use up your calls really quick. One woman who called three times to report domestic abuse said, quote, "I thought calling 911 would help stop the abuse, but instead Maplewood, Missouri punished me. I lost my home, my community, and my faith in the police to provide protection."

And that's what it boils down to. Distrust of the system that is supposed to protect people, you would hope, but does it? Sometimes. They pick and choose over there. It's disturbing. So yeah, there are some flaws in the system.

But does that mean we should get rid of it as a whole? I don't know. I think we can all agree here that there are clearly benefits to the system. I mean, there are 240 million calls made every year to 911. That's like 600,000 calls per day.

Yeah, that's a lot. Any system that can handle that many crisis calls, I mean, something's got to be working right. And the way they handle all this volume is that these dispatch centers are full of tech. I'm talking terminals of computers all over the place. Honestly, it kind of looks like they work at mission control for NASA or something.

something. In many parts of the country, they're rolling out the ability to text 911. I think this is a great idea, right? Because maybe you can't make that call, text, which is especially helpful in a situation where the person calling can't speak, like kidnappings or human trafficking. Some companies have even figured out a way for people to contact 911 in parts of the country where there's no cell service, which is great for people living in areas that maybe don't really have service or anything, you know?

Or maybe you're on a mountain somewhere. No one can find you. I mean, look, there's definitely room for improvement here and growth. For starters, I mean, people should stop prank calling 911 and they should be punished because then maybe it will stop. It's estimated that an additional 10,000 lives can be saved every year if 911 response time went down by just one minute. And some of these calls just end up clogging up the lines. I mean, even if they're not

pranks. Sometimes there's stupid calls from people that are like too stoned and think they're dying. There's this one video I saw of this guy who calls 911 and it's really funny but he tells the 911 dispatcher like, "I think I died. I think I'm dead." "How much did you guys have?" "I don't know. We made brownies and I think we're dead." He was just high is what I'm getting. Like it was it's really funny. If you're on drugs maybe hide your phone.

Which is the thought. So instead of calling 911 next time you get a little too high off of the devil's lettuce, instead just take a deep breath, maybe grab some chips, and just fucking relax, bro. Go color! I'm telling you, coloring saves lives. Remember, if there is a real emergency, hopefully 911 will have your back. Well everyone, thank you for learning with me today. Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to get the whole story because...

I think we all deserve that, don't we? I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story, so make sure to use the hashtag Dark History over on social media so I can follow along and see what you guys are saying. I'm like, hey, what are you guys doing? Join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery in makeup. I hope you have a great rest of your day. You make good choices, and I'll be talking to you next week.

Goodbye. Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, hi. Junia McNeely from 3Arts. Kevin Grush and Matt Enloe from Maiden Network. A big thank you to our writers. Joey Scavuzzo, Katie Burris, Allison Filobos, and me, Bailey Sarian. Writer's assistant, Casey Colton.

Production lead, Brian Jaggers. Edited by Lily Young. Research provided by Xander Elmore. Special thank you to our expert, Miles Pendleton. And once again, baby, I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. Okay, bye. Why are you still here? I don't know. Bye. Goodbye.