Misguided
911 logs must remain public records
9-1-1.
?It’s a number that we all know, but hope never to need. If we do dial those iconic digits, we expect, believe — hope — that it will mean help will soon be on the way. But what if it isn’t? What if a flaw in the system or possibly human error or indifference results in an emergency becoming a tragedy?
Because 911 logs are public record, our hypothetical scenario can be evaluated, analyzed and investigated, with the hope of not only discovering what went wrong but also how to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future.
Yet, in a wholly misguided move, the state House has unanimously passed a bill that would make it nearly impossible for citizens to evaluate the efficiency of their emergency response. The bill would close off all “identifying information” relating to 911 calls, including names, cross-street and location information in time response logs. That information allows citizens — and yes, news organizations — to ensure there is accountability.
After all, the emergency response system is paid for with your tax dollars, and we are not alone in the belief that you deserve to know how well those dollars are being used. And while we’d like to think that 911 calls would always be handled correctly, there is the possibility, whether we like to admit it or not, that a call to 911 might go unanswered, or be delayed, with possibly tragic results.
That was the case in Bucks County in 2008, when a disabled woman died in her bed because the emergency response center put her call on hold and delayed the dispatch of firefighters. Meanwhile, Eddie Polec, a 16-year-old, died after a beating in Philadelphia after emergency responders ignored or dismissed more than two dozen calls reporting the attack.
The Eddie Polec incident made national news and led to the overhaul of Philadelphia’s emergency response system. Basic cross street information was critical to the public’s understanding of those two tragic cases and provided grounds for reform and improvement of both systems. Without that information, there would have been no improvement to the system that we all need to be there but hope never to need.
So, why has the bill seen such support so far? That is thanks to a largely unfounded feeling that removing the identifying information will help prevent further harm to victims of domestic violence. This is a noble goal, but a particularly nonsensical reason to block identifying information from 911 logs.
This claim assumes that a would-be assailant would obtain and review the voluminous time response logs produced in possibly thousands of municipalities, for all kinds of emergency calls, to locate his target, based on the possibility of that person having at some point called 911. Meanwhile, the claim that individuals “hesitate to call 911” in an emergency, for fear of their names going on record, is equally implausible.
Incident addresses have long been public in police blotters and court records and are easily heard through police scanners, owned by many across the Commonwealth. Removing it from 911 logs will do nothing other than impede the public’s ability to evaluate the efficacy of its emergency response.
So as the bill heads to the state Senate, we join other members of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association to urge our local legislators and those from across the Commonwealth to oppose this bill, which despite its good intentions will serve as an assault on transparency, accountability and common sense.