Corrected entry: When John is on the roof trying to radio for help he connects with a woman from an emergency help line, why does the woman not believe him when he tells her about the huge emergency? Not in a million years would a person from the emergency help line not believe you when you call them with an emergency, even if it sounded like a child making a prank call ordering a fire-truck to his friend's house and they could hear the child giggling while he's saying it, they would still have to send someone out. John is screaming at the woman for help and she still doesn't believe him.
dan coakley..
12th Jul 2013
Die Hard (1988)
Correction: There HAVE been cases of emergency service operators not believing callers. There was one infamous case in NYC where a woman who had fallen ill died because the operator didn't believe her young son who called. And another when a kid called 911 from the school bus because the driver smelled of alcohol, was speeding, and blowing through several red lights while cursing the kids, who were begging her to stop. During the entire call, the operator seemed extremely skeptical of the report, and when the police finally caught up with the bus and arrested the driver, the operator was surprised and told the officer on the scene that she had "really hoped the kid was lying." So, while unprofessional, it happens. The wouldn't blow off the call the entirely, but they might assign it a lower priority. The most egregious cases have resulted in disciplinary action, including firing, and lawsuits.
I have personally called 911 and the operator didn't believe me and kept mocking me and then told me to get on my way, so I'm not even sure services were dispatched.
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Correction: As the other dispatcher stated at the beginning of the call, it came from the same building as the "false fire alarm." It got called off by the terrorists so the dispatchers believe it is a prank call. As far as they're concerned it's already been confirmed that there's no problem there.
lartaker1975
There is another factor not being considered here: if memory serves, John is not on "911" but on the police band. Half of her stubbornness is telling this crazy civilian to get off this restricted channel.
I agree with the original poster. Prank or not, there was automatic weapon fire that caused her ears to ring, you would think that she would do something other than call for a 'black and white to do a drive-by'.