In fairness to the MPDC, DC Emergency Ops, and DC Fire and EMS, I will begin with my first - and definitely most positive - "interaction" with the system yesterday...
On my commute home yesterday at around 5:30pm, I was one of the first on-scene to a spectacular auto accident. A Nissan Pathfinder ran a fully red light and was hit broadside by a 1997 Chevy Suburban that had started (from a stop) into the intersection. I had been in the through lanes going in the opposite direction, waiting for the green light, and heard the first sound of the crash. I looked up in time to see the Pathfinder flip up in the air and onto its (driver's) side and spin like a top.
I immediately grabbed my cell phone and dialed "911", and was put on hold... for approximately 30 seconds... I gave the call-taker the information as I parked my vehicle on the side of the road and ran over to the vehicles to offer what help I could. The guy in the Suburban (airbag had deployed) was shook-up but said he was OK, the girl in the Pathfinder was conscious but stuck in the on-its-side vehicle. A nurse in a passing vehicle had also stopped and we talked to the girl, asking questions, got her to look at me through the windshield so I could see her eyes and check her face for any obvious injuries, and tried to keep her calm and talking until help arrived.
DC Fire and EMS responded fairly quickly for rush hour; I don't know what station(s) they responded from, but they did good work. So, kudos to them.
DC Police showed up shortly after and they did their part of the job well, as EMS set to the work of cutting the girl out of the Pathfinder.
Now, to my experience later in the evening - with MPDC's "311" non-emergency police dispatch line...
It was almost 8:30pm, I was with Kristinn as he and several of his co-workers were working late at their office, and he called the 311 line to tell them about several ne'er-do-wells hanging out in the service alley between his building and the neighboring one. As are many parts of DC at night, it's not the most inviting place to be for the law-abiding souls, if you know what I mean... and the area is full of various federal agencies and museums (potential terrorist targets); it's not unusual for folks to get mugged in the area; so he felt that the police should at least check the guys out.
Well, the dispatcher didn't seem to think so, and he spent nearly five minutes arguing with Kristinn about why he wasn't going to dispatch the call! The dispatcher's final answer was that Kristinn wasn't the building manager, so he couldn't report the trespassing vagrants/troublemakers! Ain't it grand, in a "crime emergency", when a citizen is not allowed to report a suspicious situation?!
I got the phone number of the police station (located only one block away, BTW) and called them. After I recounted the story to her, the officer who answered the phone transferred me to the dispatch supervisor, and I told the story yet again! By this time it's now 9pm... the dispatch supervisor tells me that she will dispatch the call and as soon as a car was available, they would respond. (I also gave her the name and badge number of the useless dispatcher, and suggested that a "come to Jesus" session might be in order for him).
At 9:30pm - I, Kristinn and another of his co-workers left his office; the group in the alley was still hanging out in the shadows, and not a single cop had arrived to check them out.
If we depend on DC Police Chief Ramsey's stellar leadership for protecting the citzenry from criminals and terrorists - we're all in deep doo-doo.
Somebody please remind me, why did Chief Ramsey get his big pay big raise recently?