Cell phone calls from World Trade Center 9/11 released to familie
 

I just heard one of the 911 call recordings on the news from a 35 year old man. He called, spoke with the 911 operator, and someone at a fire department, to report an explosion on a lower floor, saying that he couldn't get down the stairs. He was told they were already on their way, and they'd get him out. He said "Okay, please hurry."

His family received the recording this week, and gave it to the New York Times yesterday.

Of course, he was one of the many innocent people that did not survive. All he did was attend a business conference that day. Sorry to say, I missed his name. I'll find it in the Times today or tomorrow I'm sure.

So sad.

Sorry, I didn't know where to put this thread; politics or wherever.

There was a note that the recordings are going to be used for 911 dispatch training purposes and that they will not include the voices of the victims, but just the operator. It seems that only the families that fight for the full tapes will get them. I have mixed feelings about hearing these tapes. While really interesting and very powerful, they're also fairly disturbing.

I don't understand how the recordings would make valuable training tools. I have read a few articles that indicate that some 911 dispatch operators certainly need more (or better) training, but I'm not sure how these tapes would help.

They probably have considerable footage of tapes considering the time line. Also a full gamut of anxiety and panic, from ~thought I ought to report it~ to ~screaming and crying~.
Training an operator with different types of calls, for a situation that they are familiar with (who isn't by now), will teach them;
Not to underestimate the importance of any call,
To understand what people are trying to convey,
To decode panicky calls,
etc, etc, etc.

Again, I think the main value is all the calls are linked to a known event. :2cents: