John Oliver Reveals Shocking State of U.S. 911 Systems
On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver explained that our 911 systems are dangerously underfunded, outdated, and poorly managed. He called 911 “the thing you call right after WebMD tells you you’re not going to be able to get it out on your own.”
Despite 911 being the lifeline for people in danger, dispatch centers in many areas have a major funding problem. In places like New York, some of the funds for 911 systems have been diverted to other budgets. To demonstrate the woeful state of affairs, Oliver played several clips of outgoing recordings from dispatch centers explaining that their lines are too busy.
Sadly, once a person gets through, there is no guarantee that the call center will be able to find the person in need. Many dispatch centers are unable to track a cellphone’s location. Even new Federal Communications Commission guidelines that will go into effect in 2021 state that location data may be available for only 80 percent of 911 calls from cellphones. Oliver retorted, “The sentence, ‘In six years, I might not be able to find one out of five of you’ is only acceptable if you’re speaking to the members of One Direction.”
To illustrate his point, Last Week Tonight created an honest public service announcement about calling 911. Stay safe, everybody!
Last Week Tonight airs on Sundays at 11 p.m. on HBO.
Watch John Oliver debunk popular scientific studies.
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