911 Emergency Telephone Service

A cat who may have been within a whisker of choking to death on his flea collar managed to call 911 for help from police. Tipper tried to slip the collar off while he was alone at home Wednesday. But the 9-month-old black and white cat only managed to work part of it into his mouth and began to choke, officials said. Whether by luck or design, Tipper was able to knock a phone off its hook.

Six years after Los Angeles voters approved a $235-million bond to upgrade the city's 911 system, the LAPD is seeking more money to fund maintenance and future improvements to the emergency network. For the third time since the bond measure passed, the Los Angeles Police Department has asked the City Council to support statewide legislation that would allow the city to impose a surcharge on monthly phone bills to cover the 911 upgrades.

A $235-million bond issue to pay for a new 911 emergency call system was approved unanimously by the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday for placement on the November ballot. The Police Department is backing the measure as a way to finance replacement of an emergency response system that officials say is outmoded and overburdened.

A cat who may have been within a whisker of choking to death on his flea collar managed to call 911 for help from police. Tipper tried to slip the collar off while he was alone at home Wednesday. But the 9-month-old black and white cat only managed to work part of it into his mouth and began to choke, officials said. Whether by luck or design, Tipper was able to knock a phone off its hook.

The rains that battered Orange County also brought a torrent of calls from frantic and curious residents that swamped local 911 emergency systems, officials said Friday. The suddenness of the downpours Wednesday and the sheer volume of calls--many of which were to report flooded homes or ask where to get sandbags--backed up the system reserved for handling life-threatening crises and caused minor delays in dispatching emergency workers, communications officials said.

Six years after Los Angeles voters approved a $235-million bond to upgrade the city's 911 system, the LAPD is seeking more money to fund maintenance and future improvements to the emergency network. For the third time since the bond measure passed, the Los Angeles Police Department has asked the City Council to support statewide legislation that would allow the city to impose a surcharge on monthly phone bills to cover the 911 upgrades.

A woman whose estranged husband is accused of shooting her and killing her father filed a $22-million damage claim Friday against the county, the Sheriff's Department and two 911 dispatchers. Cenia Garcia Dodson alleged that she had to call 911 operators and sheriff's deputies three times before help arrived at her family's Pico Rivera apartment in the September incident. Dodson said she told the 911 operators and deputies she had a restraining order against Anthony Dodson.

A single-engine plane bound from Orange County to Denver crashed on a snowy plateau Tuesday, killing the pilot and injuring the three passengers, authorities said. After the crash, two survivors crawled from the flipped-over plane and one used a cellular telephone to lead rescuers to the crash site about two miles east of Larkspur, 25 miles south of Denver. " 'Our plane has crashed,' " Debbie Witt, a communications officer with the Colorado State Patrol, said the caller told her.

Simi Valley officials hope that re-carpeting the city's police dispatch center with a static-eliminating rug will keep 911 emergency calls from disconnecting. Calls to the Police Department have been plagued with low volume and disconnections for two years, said dispatcher Mike Homsy, and although Pacific Bell has been unable to pinpoint the cause, officials say static could be part of the problem. "Sometimes we can't hear people, and they can't hear us," Homsy said. "And it's not too frequent .

When his mother began choking on a lozenge in their Van Nuys condominium Tuesday, 3-year-old Jameson Rodgers knew exactly what to do. He called 911, just as his parents had trained him. "My mom's on the floor. She can't breathe," he told a Los Angeles Fire Department dispatcher in a calm and articulate voice. Minutes later, three paramedics arrived from a station only a third of a mile away and found Peggy Rodgers on her hands and knees, on the verge of becoming unconscious.

The rains that battered Orange County also brought a torrent of calls from frantic and curious residents that swamped local 911 emergency systems, officials said Friday. The suddenness of the downpours Wednesday and the sheer volume of calls--many of which were to report flooded homes or ask where to get sandbags--backed up the system reserved for handling life-threatening crises and caused minor delays in dispatching emergency workers, communications officials said.

Simi Valley officials hope that re-carpeting the city's police dispatch center with a static-eliminating rug will keep 911 emergency calls from disconnecting. Calls to the Police Department have been plagued with low volume and disconnections for two years, said dispatcher Mike Homsy, and although Pacific Bell has been unable to pinpoint the cause, officials say static could be part of the problem. "Sometimes we can't hear people, and they can't hear us," Homsy said. "And it's not too frequent .

A woman whose estranged husband is accused of shooting her and killing her father filed a $22-million damage claim Friday against the county, the Sheriff's Department and two 911 dispatchers. Cenia Garcia Dodson alleged that she had to call 911 operators and sheriff's deputies three times before help arrived at her family's Pico Rivera apartment in the September incident. Dodson said she told the 911 operators and deputies she had a restraining order against Anthony Dodson.

A single-engine plane bound from Orange County to Denver crashed on a snowy plateau Tuesday, killing the pilot and injuring the three passengers, authorities said. After the crash, two survivors crawled from the flipped-over plane and one used a cellular telephone to lead rescuers to the crash site about two miles east of Larkspur, 25 miles south of Denver. " 'Our plane has crashed,' " Debbie Witt, a communications officer with the Colorado State Patrol, said the caller told her.

A $235-million bond issue to pay for a new 911 emergency call system was approved unanimously by the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday for placement on the November ballot. The Police Department is backing the measure as a way to finance replacement of an emergency response system that officials say is outmoded and overburdened.

When his mother began choking on a lozenge in their Van Nuys condominium Tuesday, 3-year-old Jameson Rodgers knew exactly what to do. He called 911, just as his parents had trained him. "My mom's on the floor. She can't breathe," he told a Los Angeles Fire Department dispatcher in a calm and articulate voice. Minutes later, three paramedics arrived from a station only a third of a mile away and found Peggy Rodgers on her hands and knees, on the verge of becoming unconscious.

Monterey Park police are advising city residents that a fake telephone fund-raising drive is under way in the city by callers claiming to be members of the city's Police Officer's Assn. "One caller asked for $1,000," said Monterey Park Police Sgt. William Risen, adding that high-pressure tactics are used. The callers are men and women who say they will send runners to residences to pick up the donations.