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Comment by mcantelon | Hacker News Reader

Might take a lot of lawsuits to get them to verify info before acting on it.

Caller: “hi 911, I’m being held hostage by an armed and violent individual at this address, this is the only opportunity I’ve had to use a phone”

911 call taker: “Thanks for your report. We’ll work on verifying this and might be able to get out there in 2-3 weeks.”

Or maybe the police can still go check, but just not do it guns blazing? They can ring the door bell and ask to check around. If they're afraid of being fired upon they could even use a police robot or something.

Or even stand some distance from the door and shout "THIS IS THE POLICE, EVERYONE GET OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP" through a bullhorn; it's going to be much less disruptive to everyone than a flashbang through the window, and the officers can still be hidden behind cover in case of actual criminals wielding guns being present.

"They've threatened to kill me the if the police show up."

I don't think there can be any one-size-fits-all solution to this - each case must be assessed on its own merits.

Hostage taker: “Nope, there’s no hostages here, and no you can’t come in”

Police: “Well, thanks for that. Have a nice day”...

Police don’t bust in and start opening fire, so your description of how this works is simply false, and removing their ability to respond to emergencies is absurd.

You just described the plot of Die Hard.

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