CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. — A 911 caller in Chatham County, Georgia had a very hard time getting through to dispatchers when he thought someone was breaking into his home. When he finally did get through, he said the dispatcher was ordering breakfast.
On Valentine’s Day, Dylan Johnson started his morning by calling 911.
“My wife called me while I was at work about 9:30 and said someone was snooping around the house, knocking on the doors and banging on windows and stuff,” Johnson said.
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He called the county’s non-emergency line first, followed by 911 three times. He finally got an answer by 9:31 a.m. after trying for about six minutes, according to his phone’s call log.
“I was panicking. My wife was home alone with my five-month-old daughter. I was coming home not knowing what I was going to come home to,” Johnson said.
After about three minutes into Johnson’s 911 call, he heard the dispatcher talking to others around her and appearing to order breakfast.
“Mhmm McGriddle (cough) I’m sorry, what?” can be heard on the 911 call.
Johnson said he was stunned by what he heard.
“If it didn’t happen to me, I wouldn’t believe that it had happened to someone else. That’s how unbelievable it really is,” Johnson said.
When police arrived, Johnson said whoever was at his house had already left. He said his wife was shaken up, but his family was OK.
Chatham County Commission Chairman Chester Ellis said the dispatcher’s actions are under review.
“That should never happen, okay? Your ordering breakfast should be different from answering a call. The two should never intertwine,” Ellis said.
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Unlike Johnson, many callers give up before they ever get an answer.
Chatham County data shows that just last year, 24% of calls were marked as abandoned. Prior years show a similar trend.
In 2023, abandoned calls were up to 27% according to county records. That’s up from more than 18% in 2022, 19% in 2021, and 14% in 2020.
Ellis said there’s room for improvement. “Every day I want an improvement. Every day I want to be better than I was the day before. So, we go through an evaluation process,” he said.
Johnson said he’s thankful his situation wasn’t worse.
“When someone is calling 911, they need help. I want them to treat everything as an emergency as they should be,” Johnson said.
The Board of Commissioners said the dispatcher’s supervisors will complete a review of what happened on Johnson’s call and submit a report.
The chairman will review it and then take the matter up with the board.
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