Saving the World from Intruders

This week we have had some pretty hard calls to deal with at work. On Valentine’s Day we had a homicide, which was made worse because the person who called in to report it was the murderer. On Friday, we had a suicide to add into the mix of the usual calls. On Sunday we spent the entire day looking for the suspect in a pedestrian hit and run that left one of the pedestrians in serious condition. (We found the suspect 45 minutes before the end of shift). Having two deaths during the week and a manhunt for a suspect is pretty unusual. Yesterday I had a call, though, that made me feel good about what I do.

The call did not start out well. A boy of about 11 called me to say he was home alone and there was an intruder in the house. I immediately dispatched police to his location and told the boy to stay on the phone with me and not hang up. While the police were en route, I asked the boy questions about why he thought there was an intruder, was he home alone, where was he, where did he think the intruder was, anything that would give me more information and keep him talking. I have to admit that it was scary for me as well, because there’s nothing I can do for him except stay on the line. At one point the boy thought the intruder was upstairs coming towards his location. I told him to stay hidden and keep talking to me. Long story short, the boy was at his grandparent’s house visiting and was left alone. He had been upstairs with the TV on and had just gotten out of the shower when he heard someone in the house. When my officers arrived we discovered that the grandfather’s car was in the driveway and the grandfather had come home unexpectedly. I was able to relay this information to the boy, who was still too terrified to come out of the hiding spot that he had found. I told the boy that he could stay on the phone with me until his grandfather came upstairs to get him. By this time, the boy was still terrified, but also a little mortified because he called 911 for a false alarm. I reassured him that it was okay to be scared and he did the right thing by calling 911. I would have been just as scared had I come out of the shower in an unfamiliar house and heard someone inside when I was supposed to be alone. I know that this boy will probably get teased by his family for awhile, but at least he knows that 911 works.