“We take this very seriously... It’s the biggest red flag.”

I'm a Senior Editor here at BuzzFeed, which means I've spent wayyyyy too much time on the internet.

Content warning: This post mentions violence, domestic abuse, and suicide.

"Guy called in that the neighbor’s dog was going nuts in the backyard. I started to put it in the 'barking dog' file (lowest priority), when he said, 'It’s weird, because she usually brings him in at about 8.' It was 10, and her ex-boyfriend was threatening her with a gun and had assaulted her. Got him, she was safe, dog was safe.

But you better believe I started asking if the dog barked a lot. A couple of years later, I caught a window peeper because it was a dog that usually didn’t bark."

"The owner or employee called to say that a regular customer who always showed up at 7 a.m. every day hadn't shown up for two days, and they thought he might just be sleeping in. Dispatchers take this very seriously because for elderly people or those living alone, a sudden disruption in their daily routine is the biggest red flag."

"My sister worked at Domino's in high school, and they had an older man who ordered from there every single Friday and Saturday night without fail. When he didn't order on Friday, they assumed he was taking the night off because he would sometimes go out with a neighbor friend for dinner, but when he didn't order on Saturday, they knew something wasn't right.

My sister's boss called the non-emergency number and told the dispatcher, and she kind of blew it off. But when my sister's boss told her that he had five years of weekly orders and something wasn't right, they sent someone over. And sure enough, he had fallen down the basement stairs and had broken his hip and arm.

After he got released from rehab, he began ordering again without fail and even stopped into the store to see the staff and thank them. My sister said he was always a good tipper before, but he became an amazing one after that."

That's always the big one. Unconscious + snoring might just be snoring, or it might be agonal breathing, which is when someone's body is shutting down, and they're starting to stop breathing/enter cardiac arrest.

Fell and started snoring? Got punched and started snoring? Took narcotics and started snoring? Immediately goes from a normal fall/fight/overdose to a 'we're about to roll code and start CPR' type call."

"Someone calls in with a completely unrelated question, like what time a pizza place closes or how to get to a certain street, but speaks in a hushed voice on the phone, or refuses to hang up even after being told it's 911. An experienced dispatcher will immediately realize this is a domestic violence victim calling for help using a secret code, because the abuser is right in the room."

"A lot of times, it's really additional pieces of information that I have that ring the alarm bells, rather than what the caller reports. I might have location history, subject history, or phone number history that gives me a bigger picture. Experience means a lot. An 'iPhone crash notification' on most locations means someone put their phone on their roof before driving off (pls stop doing that), but an iPhone crash notification on a 'roller-coaster road' means I need a helo on standby."

"We get huge numbers of open line calls — a phone dials 911, but no one is speaking. Very often, there are innocuous sounds that come from rummaging around in a purse or similar. Keys rattling. Cash register beeping. I'll call them back, but 99.9% of the time it is nothing if the background sounds seem normal.

One of the most serious calls I ever handled was such an open line call, but the background sounds didn't seem right. Had a hard time saying exactly why, and even when I replayed the call, it sounded off but not exactly alarming.

All I had was a phone number. I searched our various databases, including prior calls and vehicle licensing. Found a home address. Sent an officer. No one was home, but the neighbor said a certain car had just left. Cross-referenced that car make and model against a prior 911 call and found an ex-boyfriend who drives a matching vehicle. Sent a different officer to the ex-boyfriend's home. No vehicle found. And then I put out an APD on the ex-boyfriend's vehicle.

And all that was based on a creepy *something doesn't sound right* feeling. Had to tell the police chief inspector to trust me when I say something felt wrong, and he knew I wasn't prone to sending officers on a wild goose chase.

About 45 minutes later, the ex-boyfriend's car was found in the parking lot of a nightclub about 20 miles from where we started. Officers heard a sound and forced the car trunk to find the kidnapped woman very much alive.

All this because I didn't hear keys, a cash register beep, or any of the normal background sounds of an open line call."

"The college student called and said that his roommate 'drank some wine at the party yesterday. After returning home, he slept in bed all day, which felt a little cold.' This is almost 100% fatal alcohol poisoning or positional shock."

"Little kids calling 911. Sometimes, and honestly most times, it’s a legitimate play call. But there are times where I could hear the adults in the background, or things smashing, or just something seemed off. I can’t tell you how many child abuse cases opened up because of 'kids playing' and by one of us sending a car, just in case."

"The caller said it seemed like someone was walking around in the attic or basement. At first, they thought it was an animal, but the footsteps sounded too heavy, too deliberate, or too regular. That's usually a 'secret occupant' — someone who sneaks into and hides inside the house structure."

"I’ve been at this a while, and the one that sticks with me is 'I had a big argument with my spouse/significant other/child just a few minutes ago and now I can’t find them.'

Sounds like not a reason to call 911, right? That’s exactly the problem: The caller has a gut feeling that they might not even consciously recognize, but it still led them to call.

I’ve had multiple calls that started this way turn into discovering really nasty suicide scenes."

"The homeowner called to complain that the whole house lost power all of a sudden, and I heard a slight clicking coming from the breaker box outside. A sudden partial outage combined with external noises is a classic burglar tactic — cutting off the power on purpose."

"On Sundays we got a LOT of, 'We came to visit [old relative] but they're not answering the door...'

Nine out of ten times, said relative was dead and had been dead for some time. Happened often on Sundays, which tend to be visiting days for children or grandchildren."

"'I just got back from a trip and my calf has been hurting for a few days.'

'My daughter told me she has a headache and her neck hurts, but she didn't do anything to hurt it.'

'My nose has been dripping a clear liquid, but I don't think it's snot because it doesn't taste the same.'

"1. Blood clot in your leg (DVT) which can travel to the lungs causing a pulmonary embolism or to the brain causing a stroke.2. Meningitis3. Spinal fluid, which should NOT be outside the spine and definitely not dropping down your nose."

"My friend called me from work. Said her teeth felt funny? I drove to her work. Took one look at her face. Not the same? It was off, her voice was different. Took her to the hospital. The night doctor blew it off. I was forceful. I called her family. Even her sister agreed that something was off. Dr. Jerk said fine, we'll keep her overnight and treat her for a stroke. Seems the MRI couldn't happen till the next morning. Well, lo and behold, she'd had a stroke. The morning after, the doctor said that if she hadn't been there, it would have damaged so much more. She still has weakness on her right side, and when she gets tired, she has a lisp. And yes Dr. Jerk said it was probably anxiety."

"Someone called the police and said that there was a car in front of them parked strangely or did not leave at the green light, and added that, 'It looks like [they're] falling asleep on the steering wheel.' This is usually a fentanyl/opioid overdose, a diabetes emergency, or carbon monoxide poisoning."

"Crying is predictable. Silence is terrifying. I remember taking a call from a kid who fell off his bike and just whispered that his tummy hurt. No screaming, no crying, just this eerie quiet. My instincts went crazy because silent trauma often means internal bleeding or shock. We rushed to the scene, thinking the worst, and we were right. If a child stops reacting, you don't wait, you act."

"Former operator/dispatcher. It was always the calm elderly women who called the non-emergency line and said 'I don't mean to be a bother' who needed dire urgent help."

"I was a security dispatcher, and sometimes a voice tone plus an obviously incorrect/seemingly wrong number situation is worrying.

There was a sports store in the mall I used to work security at, and they called the dispatch when I was working, and it was a speed dial they couldn't misdial.

The assistant manager told me, 'The store is open even during renovations.' I was confused, and after restating that it was dispatch, he replied: 'Yes, renovations, but our store hours are 9 to 11.'

I pulled up the cameras to the exterior and radioed the head of security that we have a possible armed robbery. Kept him on the line and dialed 911 on the other line.

The assistant manager, sensing he had to hang up, said, 'Yes, store is open during the renovation, (quickly) they're in the back room, come through, we're OK to serve you,' then hung up.

Police was there in four minutes and made quick work of it.

Later, the assistant manager spoke to me, and since he knew me, he was like, 'Thank God it was someone I knew who would understand.'

Most retail has a code phrase to alert security of armed robberies now."

"'Whole family has headaches and is sleepy today.'

"Good chance it could be carbon monoxide poisoning. One person with a headache and nausea is one thing, but multiple at once? Evacuate!"