re: #238 erik_t

In my experience, non-emergency numbers take me to an actual police officer on the other end of the line (rather than an emergency dispatcher). Such officer might well have the legal power to tell Zimmerman not to follow Martin, rather than to say it was not necessary.

Or maybe not. I don’t know shit about law.

Any just about any locality or county that’s bigger than Mayberry that I’m aware of, calling the cops gets you a public safety dispatcher, not a field officer. Most dispatchers in departments larger than a handful of employees may not even be considered sworn peace officers, just basically call takers.

Working in the alarm business as a central station dispatcher gives me a bit of insight on this particular issue.