This woman who found herself in a domestic violence accident managed to reach 911 without the abuser realizing.
She pretended she was actually ordering pizza. The officers from the Oregon City in Ohio praised the quick thinking of the lady that helped them arrest the perpetrator.
The woman who remains unnamed told the media that her mother was being attacked at the time she was making the call.
Although subtle calls to the emergency services have been trending on the internet for some time now, there’s rarely a confirmed case where it was effective in reality.
Officers have previously noted that it’s not always a guarantee that this tactic works since the dispatchers don’t get training to recognize a pizza order as a call for help.
However, in this case, the dispatcher did realize something was wrong.
Dispatcher Recognizes a Cry for Help through a ‘Pizza Order Call’
Tim Teneyck, the dispatcher who answered the call, said that he first thought the woman dialed the wrong number.
However, when she started insisting she had the right person, it didn’t take him long to realize what was happening. He says it was mostly because he saw similar situations being shared on social media.
He explained that you see this on Facebook, however, it’s not something dispatchers are trained for. In fact, some other dispatchers he talked with told him they would never pick up on this.
Below, check out the transcript from the call.
Dispatcher Saves Family from Abuser
Dispatcher: Oregon 911
Caller: I would like to order a pizza at (address).
Dispatcher: You called 911 to order a pizza?
Caller: Uh yeah. Apartment (number redacted)
Dispatcher: This is the wrong number to call for a pizza
Caller: No, no, no. You do not understand
Dispatcher: I’m getting you now
Dispatcher: Is the other guy still there?
Caller: Yep. I need a large pizza.
Dispatcher: All right. How about medical, do you need medical?
Caller: No. With pepperoni.
The Origin of the Pizza Idea to Report Domestic Abuse
Although it’s not entirely clear from where exactly this idea originated, a similar scenario was used in one campaign by the Norwegian Women’s Shelter Association back in 2010.
4 years after this campaign, one Reddit user claimed to be a 911 operator and described one victim of domestic abuse calling to order for a pizza.
They said the call began pretty dumb, but it was in fact pretty serious.
Several months later, with a lot of news sites reporting on the post, in 2015, it transformed into a Super Bowl ad for domestic abuse reporting.
It later turned into a viral public service announcement on social media. However, one Facebook user falsely claimed that dispatchers receive training to recognize the pizza call as a cry for help.
This claim was debunked by Christopher Carver-the dispatch center operations director for the US National Emergency Number Association. He stated for the Associated Press that police isn’t trained to listen for specific scenarios or code words.
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