911 Dispatcher Tells Woman About To Be Sexually Assaulted There Are No Cops To Help Her Due To Budget Cuts May 23, 2013 11:05 AM JOSEPHINE COUNTY, Ore. (CBS Seattle) — An Oregon woman was told by a 911 dispatcher that authorities wouldn’t be able be able to help her as her ex-boyfriend broke into her place because of budget cuts. Oregon Public Radio reports that an unidentified woman called 911 during a weekend in August 2012 while Michael Bellah was breaking into her place. Her call was forwarded to Oregon State Police because of lay-offs at the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office only allows the department to be open Monday through Friday. “Uh, I don’t have anybody to send out there,” the 911 dispatcher told the woman. “You know, obviously, if he comes inside the residence and assaults you, can you ask him to go away? Do you know if he’s intoxicated or anything?” The woman told the dispatcher that Bellah previously attacked her and left her hospitalized a few weeks prior to the latest incident. The dispatcher stayed on the phone with the woman for more than 10 minutes before the sexual assault took place. “Once again it’s unfortunate you guys don’t have any law enforcement out there,” the dispatcher said, according to Oregon Public Radio. The woman responded: “Yeah, it doesn’t matter, if he gets in the house I’m done.” Police say Bellah choked the woman and sexually assaulted her. He was arrested by Oregon State Police following the incident. “There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t have another victim,” Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilberson told Oregon Public Radio. “If you don’t pay the bill, you don’t get the service.” The sheriff’s department had to cut 23 deputies and the entire major crimes unit after it lost a multi-million dollar federal subsidy, according to Oregon Public Radio. There are now only six deputies left. The sheriff’s department even put out a press release warning domestic violence victims to “consider relocating to an area with adequate law enforcement services.” Bellah pleaded guilty to kidnapping, sex abuse and assault. I added the emphasis... Is this for REAL, or WHAT? That babe should have had a BIG Gun, and blown that guy into the Next World... Live on 911, and see how long it would take the State Troopers to get there.....
Sounds like she either needs to move into town or learn to protect herself. Voters here (Josephine County) have decided over the past decade that sheriffs patrols are just not cost effective and rural dwellers have chosen to take responsibility for their own safety. As far as I know, nobody is forced to live in the rural county area...it is a choice one makes and they need to be cognizant of the responsibilities that accompany the choice. Gil is a good sheriff and (unlike his predecessors) submitted a proposal that we voted on yesterday that actually provided for services that are needed rather than a list of "luxuries" that they would like to have. Unfortunately, the prior 2 sheriffs' overreaching requests made the voters wary of ANY increase and the measure was defeated. It should be noted that the most recent request would not have reinstated patrols (or, in a county with 75K residents over about 1700 sq miles...over half of whom are in the cities of Grants Pass or Cave Junction, appreciably reduced response time in the outer areas...which was in the neighborhood of 30 mins to an hour at the best of times), but would have made it possible to have kept this scumbag in jail for prior offenses.
Now that is a crazy story!!! The victim knew she was imminent danger and should have bought a hand cannon to deal with him for sure. Makes you wonder if the County has all admin positions filled and just cut the police department to make a point.... if so the citizens should be furious.
No...the voters have consistently rejected law enforcement levies on property tax. The county is doing what the voters have specified. The root of the problem is that about half of our territory here is "federal land" that is outside the tax base...for years the feds made payments to offset the loss in property tax, but stopped the payments as a budget measure a few years back.
Saw your post @PaxMentis after mine went out. "rural dwellers have chosen to take responsibility for their own safety". Either way she should have had her own means of protecting herself.
My reason for bringing this story to the Monkeys was two fold... 1. Having a 911 Dispatcher suggest that, "Ask him to go away" is just plain STUPID, on it's face, and who ever the Dispatcher was, needs serious Remedial ReEducation. 2. Brining the issue of Personal Responsibility and Personal Self-protection, to the forefront. This lady, made herself a victim, and she bears some responsibility for the outcome. Restraining Orders would NOT have stopped this guy. The only way to stop this dude was with a Big Gun, used correctly, or a Big Friend with Hickory Baseball Bat, neither which she had on hand. 3. What this story all comes down to, in its basic substance, is that this Lady made some serious Life Choices, that were to her detriment. Then, when things went south, She again, made some judgements, about her Personal Safety, and Responsibility, that proved to also to be her detriment. Now, sure I understand that she may have not actually thought any or all of these things, thru, and that is also her personal issue, but does not mitigate her responsibilities for her own well being. 4. It shows the dude was a Scumbag, from the GetGo. Couldn't leave things go, once they split, and perpetrated an Assault, and Battery on the Lady. The Law will deal with this Yahoo, as always, after the Fact, and I hope he enjoys, his stay in the Oregon State Penn, for a good long stretch, with Bubba for a Cellmate.
Gun or no gun: Kitchens have knives. Trees have branches. Someone on my side on the phone, as a taping (recording) witness, for ten minutes? They would have heard him begging for help.
Cut the cord off the vacuum cleaner, bare the wires, and plug it into the wall. Of makes for a very nasty surprise, when jammed into an attacker's chest.
Our response time in this county is better then Jos. Co., which is next door, but I don't have any plans of the SO helping me if something happens. My first call would be to my neighbor for help if I had time and then once it was dealt with call 911 to clean up the mess, code 1 response, no rush because it's over. Everyone that I know that lives in the country has firearms so as stated by Quig, she must have been anti gun.
Talk about authorities who don't get it. Their advice is move to a better protected place? What about take appropriate steps to protect yourself? And what if every other place has endured the same LE cuts? And what was with that dispatcher? "Ask him to go away"? That's about as effective with someone in a violent rage as a "gun free zone" sign. I never ceases to amazed me how stupid sheeple can get. What about a suggestion to get the biggest kitchen knife within reach? Or at least snap the caller out of her panic by telling her she should protect herself as necessary without any specific suggestions (do what you gotta do). Oh right, in Oregon (and a lot of other places) the dispatcher would be held liable by the perpetrator for injuries sustained because the victim fought back using the method suggested. But the true lesson here is WE are responsible for our own protection. Not the police, not the neighborhood watch, not our roommates (which this lady didn't have), not our neighbors, etc. Each of us as individuals. Nobody else can provide it and abdicating that responsibility to someone else only sets us up for things like this to happen.
