Shouldn't 911 calls be kept private?

jillyz12

jillyz12

Active member
Just wondering what everybody's feelings are on the subject. The reason I bring it up is because of an incident in a city very near where I live. A Catholic priest, the pastor of a church, called 911 asking for help because he had been "playing" with some handcuffs and gotten himself trapped in them and unable to unlock them. The call has made its way onto You Tube, and the whole incident is easy to Google. Father Tom's voice sounds very strange in the recording; apparently he was also using a ball gag. Now....I know this guy. We grew up in the same parish. He's very decent, and I feel badly for him, that his embarassment has been made public. I don't judge him....we all do or have done things that we wouldn't want anyone else to know about. Poor guy just got caught. I don't really understand the uproar over it, either. It's not as if he's just another statistic in the Catholic church....a filthy child predator.

The point I'm trying to make, in my long-winded way, is that it doesn't seem right that what someone does in private and alone should be put on display for all the world to see. I can understand why 911 calls would be scrutinized in a criminal investigation, but this seems pointless. AND this happened 2 MONTHS AGO. Why release it now???

I don't know....maybe I'm overreacting. It just doesn't seem fair that a lapse in judgement should have such serious repercussions. What do you guys think?
 
I know for a fact that calls for emergency services are recorded- for training and legal purposes.

But to publicise calls because someone thinks its funny is just not right. It may seem funny to us, but to the person undergoing that situation, it definitely is not...

And the media has a "special" way of making people associate things with the situation- just like what Father Tom had went through.

On a short note, I too, do not agree with what had happened. It is ethically not right.
 
I can't say what the law states in the US, but it would certainly contravene a number of sections of the Australian Telecommunications Privacy Act here.
 
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I know my service will never release the actual 999 call but will release a transcript of it to the media if they think it warrants it.
Usually its calls like "I can't find my TV remote" or "How long do I have to cook a turkey for?" or "Can you send an Ambulance to the Off Licence to collect a bottle of Vodka for me?" and other such totally idiotic calls.
They will never release the deails of the caller under any circumstances as it is illegal under the Data Protection Act.
 
*off to search YouTube* ;) :angel:

My guess is that it hasn't been officially released by the emergency services, but an employee has done it. I'd say it's a serious breach of security.

I think you're friend needs to report it. I'm not sure who in the US is responsible for data protection etc but he needs to make a complaint.
 
jillyz12 said:
Just wondering what everybody's feelings are on the subject. The reason I bring it up is because of an incident in a city very near where I live. A Catholic priest, the pastor of a church, called 911 asking for help because he had been "playing" with some handcuffs and gotten himself trapped in them and unable to unlock them. The call has made its way onto You Tube, and the whole incident is easy to Google. Father Tom's voice sounds very strange in the recording; apparently he was also using a ball gag. Now....I know this guy. We grew up in the same parish. He's very decent, and I feel badly for him, that his embarassment has been made public. I don't judge him....we all do or have done things that we wouldn't want anyone else to know about. Poor guy just got caught. I don't really understand the uproar over it, either. It's not as if he's just another statistic in the Catholic church....a filthy child predator.

The point I'm trying to make, in my long-winded way, is that it doesn't seem right that what someone does in private and alone should be put on display for all the world to see. I can understand why 911 calls would be scrutinized in a criminal investigation, but this seems pointless. AND this happened 2 MONTHS AGO. Why release it now???

I don't know....maybe I'm overreacting. It just doesn't seem fair that a lapse in judgement should have such serious repercussions. What do you guys think?
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I think they should certainly be recorded, but not given to the public unless permission of the caller is given.

However, in this instance I have to say I don't really think it's a bad thing the "father" got caught. Maybe the parents will think twice about letting their children go on outings with Catholic priests.

A priest getting caught in that position makes me nervous. (And how do you know he's not a predator? Men that pretend not to have sexual desires to serve God and then get caught trussed up with a ball gag...eh, it doesn't put me at ease that is for certain).

***I am aware this is extremely judgmental of me, but after all the crap happening within the Cathoic Church I would certainly want to know if I had my little boy in a Sunday school class with this guy.*** (Not that I would EVER send my child to Sunday school classes).
 
I think they should be kept private except in the case of legal or training purposes. Why does the public need access to them?
 
pixiedustboo said:
I think they should certainly be recorded, but not given to the public unless permission of the caller is given.

However, in this instance I have to say I don't really think it's a bad thing the "father" got caught. Maybe the parents will think twice about letting their children go on outings with Catholic priests.

A priest getting caught in that position makes me nervous. (And how do you know he's not a predator? Men that pretend not to have sexual desires to serve God and then get caught trussed up with a ball gag...eh, it doesn't put me at ease that is for certain).

***I am aware this is extremely judgmental of me, but after all the crap happening within the Cathoic Church I would certainly want to know if I had my little boy in a Sunday school class with this guy.*** (Not that I would EVER send my child to Sunday school classes).
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Yes, there has been a lot of crap happening within the Catholic church, but what a priest does when he's alone can't be compared to that. There are no victims here; no crime was commited. I still say that priests should be allowed to marry. A forced single life is unnatural. If a priest chose to take a vow of celibacy of his own volition, that's one thing. I never understood how priests could counsel married couples in their parishes...what the hell do THEY know about the subject???
 
A lot of emergency response calls are rubbish and if a couple priests want to play with handcuffs with out a key then hard luck
 
They recently played a 999 call on the news of a woman who called the Police on Christmas Day, demanding to be put through to the Prime Minister!
She wasn't drunk, she was dead serious and she got the right hump when the call taker politely explained that the 999 servicce was for emergencies only.
Making calls like this public is important to make the public aware how such calls can block a genuine, life threatening call from getting through.
No details of who the caller was were released, though I'm sure anyone who knows her would have recognised her voice.
 
Trooper1854 said:
They recently played a 999 call on the news of a woman who called the Police on Christmas Day, demanding to be put through to the Prime Minister!
She wasn't drunk, she was dead serious and she got the right hump when the call taker politely explained that the 999 servicce was for emergencies only.
Making calls like this public is important to make the public aware how such calls can block a genuine, life threatening call from getting through.
No details of who the caller was were released, though I'm sure anyone who knows her would have recognised her voice.
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I would have had fun with this one, putting her through to a pretend Prime Minister. Now what would I say to her.....hmmmm????
 
jillyz12 said:
Yes, there has been a lot of crap happening within the Catholic church, but what a priest does when he's alone can't be compared to that. There are no victims here; no crime was commited. I still say that priests should be allowed to marry. A forced single life is unnatural. If a priest chose to take a vow of celibacy of his own volition, that's one thing. I never understood how priests could counsel married couples in their parishes...what the hell do THEY know about the subject???
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You know how crazy we [humans] are about religion? ...well with that in mind you can bet your ass there was a crime commited - a CRIME AGAINST GOD!!!

Actually no, I'm kidding, but either way it doesn't matter.

I am pleased that the Catholic church keeps getting the poor news that it does. I'm fed up with religion. Not fed up with God, fed up with religion.

Your opinions on if a preist should or should not marry doesn't matter, they can't marry and that's final. I agree with you, I think it's beyond stupid to have such a rule, but it doesn't matter what we think. We are sheep. Baaah.

(Sometimes I fancy myself a mongoose though - just for fun).
 
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