January
2007
A disappointing experience with the Department of Neighborhood Services and Police Dept
The City of Milwaukee’s Department of Neighborhood Services needs to be evaluated and they needs some serious training in customer service.
Last Monday I got bit by a dog in the City of Milwaukee. The mongrel ran around me and bit me in the back of the leg.
I called the police who said they would come by and take a report from the homeowner. I said I would make my statement at the station. Then I went to get medical help. A tetnus shot, bandaging of the wound and prescription for anti-biotics later, I’m at the police station. No one else was there. I waited for an hour and 15 minutes for someone to take my statement which took a grand total of 5 minutes. I was told by the desk cop that there wouldn’t be a long wait because I was just second in line. Second in line, I thought? Second to who? There was no one else there! I waited as the Sergent took everyones order. “Pizza or burgers” he queried the guys in front as a half dozen cops stood around.
When I was still at the homeowners house, I demanded to see the vet records. She said the dog was up to date on its shots. She finally handed me “Tito’s” last shot. Tito was overdue for her rabies shot for over a year and is also behind on distemper. “Oh great” I thought. But it gets better.
I’m at the doctors and he tells me that I have a choice. I can start taking the shots within ten days or I might get rabies and die. That’s not a great choice. He offered the first of five shots while I was there. I had heard they’ve very painful so I asked. “Well yes they are.” So I asked if I could wait on that. “Within 10 days of the bite you have to know if the dog has rabies otherwise you have to get the shots.”
So I called the Department of Neighborhood Services. I explained the entire thing to a person on the other line and asked whether the dog has been quarantined. “I don’t know — let me transfer you” said the voice on the other end. The person who got the call was apparently a coworker of the first clerks. “Who transferred you” he asked. I didn’t know. “She said you would be able to help me” I responded. So I explained the whole thing to clerk #2 but this time I got his name. You’ll need to speak with Inspector Tony Bedman, he said. “He’s not in now but will be back at 4:00″. Ok, so I called back at 4:00 and got the inspectors voicemail. I left a voicemail for him to call me because I need to know whether the dog has rabies and has been quarantined or I have to start getting shots by this Wednesday.
In two days I have to get these shots. Let me point out that these shots are supposed to be extremely painful. Because of an irresponsible dog owner and some person with the title “Inspector” who may or may not have quarantined this unvaccinated dog, I’m going to have to get these shots by WEDNESDAY.
Well here I am, just two days out from the first in a series of five very painful shots, and I can’t find out whether this dog is rabies positive or not. But hey, I do know that the cops wanted burgers last Monday night. I guess I should take solace in that.
So when people complain about horrible services in the City of Milwaukee, I can now say I understand what they mean. All the same, I’m SOOOOO not looking forward to those shots.
UPDATE: The Inspector called at 6:57am this morning (Jan 30th) and said the dog is under quarantine. He said, on his early morning voicemail, that the city hasn’t had a single case of rabies in 20 years. If the dog is dead by the end of the 10 days, he’ll know the dog has rabies.
FOLLOW UP: Today (Jan 31st) received a call from Inspector Jim Newell who said the dog was home quarantined on the 23rd. Likelihood of rabies is extremely remote in the city. He’ll check back with the dog on the 2nd. If it’s alive it didn’t have rabies. When he saw the dog it did not exhibit symptoms. Inspector Newell commented that the homeowner said I provoked and abused the dog so it bit me. (Note, the homeowner was too lazy to come to the door so she had her kids come to the door.) Of course that doesn’t gel with the facts since I’m a member of an animal welfare organization (dachshund rescue) and a former board member. Provoked animals don’t bite people in the BACK of the leg. But yes, I kicked the dog to get it away so I wouldn’t be attacked again. Apparently that worked because the dog didn’t come back for another taste.
Jim McGuigan
Jim McGuigan
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To my knowledge, Rabies vacs are actually good for 2 years - though they are administered every year (check that with a vet). Or, you may find more help/info here: http://www.wyeth.com/animalhealth?rid=/wyeth_html/home/user_group_landing/for_ahp/fortdodge_overview.html
Also, call animal control & the human society. ANY animal that bites MUST be quarantined for 10 days and tested, it’s the law!
WTF IS going on there is right..
Good Luck — Yikes!
Ah yes, that is your lovely overly-bureaucratic local government at its finest. That is what you get for living in a quasi-socialist city! Enjoy!
Jim: I think that you can have the dog either quarantined, or better yet, have the head removed and the brain examined for evidence of rabies. At any rate, I think that most public health officials will tell you that there’s virtually no chance the dog was rabid, because we just don’t see that happening in pets anymore, due to prevention efforts put in place by the very governments that last twit was lamenting, so the shot series is overkill, and I’d be surprised anybody is actually prescribing that. If you were bitten by some feral animal, it might be different.
I finally heard that the dog has been quarantined so that’s a plus. Also, someone from the Dept of Neighborhood Services told the owner of the company I work for that in the 30 years she has been with the city, she has never known for there to be a rabid dog which is another plus.
The doctor I saw volunteered to give me the first shot and get me started on the series if I wanted it. I declined for now. I hope to get more information from DNS soon. As of yet, they still haven’t called me back. Interesting though how they would volunteer the information to the owner of the company I work for but no one had the courtesy to return my calls.
Rabies vaccinations for dogs are as follows: The first one is given and is supposed to be good for one year. Subsequent vaccinations are to be given once every three years. This dog had it’s one year shot but never had another one. Interestingly enough, it bit through my pants but it doesn’t appear to have ripped it. Younger dogs have sharper teeth so that’s the only way I can explain it. All I know is it looks like a nasty bite and he broke the skin in about 5 places near the wound.
That being said, there’s no excuse for this poor service. I would have the same complaints had it happened anywhere else.
I agree that you deserve better service from City Hall but you needn’t be quite so concerned about receiving the battery of rabies shots, if you need to get them. The vaccine has changed a lot over the years. Decades ago, the vaccine was derived from mammals and it was served up in huge hypodermic syringes inserted into the abdomen. These days the vaccine is derived from eggs and is no more painful than a tetanus shot. You may feel a bit groggy after one or two of them, but probably not. My wife and I received the rabies shots after a rabid bat was found in our home and we didn’t know how long it had been there. Unlike other city departments apparently, the health department was very proactive and said bats can bite while humans are sleeping, which I found unlikely. Luckily, the rabies shots weren’t that big a deal and now we’re protected against rabid dogs for at least a couple years.
I am so sorry — and thanks for putting my complaints about DNS, the police, and others in city government in perspective. My neighbors and I have tried, repeatedly, to get attention from DNS, the police, and others to problems such as rising crime, robberies, burglaries, etc. But at least nobody here has been endangered as much as you. Yet.
But your experience with incompetence, one time, is exactly the sort of experience many of us have had, repeatedly.
The main reason, we are told, is that our relatively prosperous (and so property-taxed to the max for these services) is not as bad as others. Yet.
And yet . . . we talk with others in neighborhoods with higher crime rates, and they don’t get any better response than we do.
It’s. Just. Incompetence. Period.
I could tell you stories and stories and stories illustrating the incompetence at all levels, but — again, we’ve only suffered loss of property and a lot of fear . . . but nothing like the fear you have had.
So, again, I am so sorry that those of us who already were fully aware of the incompetence of the DNS, the MPS, and others in the city have not figured out how to fix them in time for you to get the services you needed.
This issue in this entry was a stupid little dog with a loose screw - the rest was really just a scoop of vanilla.
It’s is all too convenient - incompetence EVERYWHERE in every department of every company & organization. ESPECIALLY easy to see in cozy & public government jobs …
MAYBE in a COP’S shoes; it’s just exhaustion - from the decay of social order and not being ABLE to help when they want to (due to bureaucratic BS) and then apathy, boredom and numbness (as a coping mech.)??? They are reminded everyday when they repeatedly cannot “fix” anything at all: we are all just cogs, bricks, or numbers and etc .. even them. Give ‘em a break they are human.
And though; I slept A LOT in church (warm & cozy), scored terrible on that quiz with all those freaky names and would never look there for the answer: I think there may be a 12% chance something’s being conveniently overlooked in this case …
Big Picture: What can you do to make sure no one goes through what you have (lack of procedure and information)? Write something (with phone numbers and links and procedure - so those that follow can demand services and not walk around gathering the same info you did), post something or print and distribute something?? Will you? Are these the “mysterious ways” and we always miss them??
Unity, like Bill Stocks keeps writing, does make more sense when we are just talking about all of us little people.
Just a thought.
I can’t agree that public service jobs are cozy because I don’t think most of them are. But I will agree that the service element does not exist in some of them.
The cops that I had the poor service experience with were just starting their shift so I’m not going to excuse that as exhaustion or anything like that. There wasn’t an excuse other than to say that they deal with the dregs of society on a daily basis and are probably at a point where they’re just fed up and tired of it. The idea of taking one more call on certain days, and we’ve all had them, could feel almost unbearable. The problem is that we’ve all had those days and that is the job they signed up for so they cannot be excused for the hour and 15 minute wait when no one else was waiting to be seen.
Both departments need to understand that when someone calls them it is because they’re experiencing stress because of a concern for their safety and/or health. Those times are the most important to be responsive.
On the plus side, I will say that the cop who was finally assigned to take my statement was very professional and did a very good and efficient job.
In the end, I was satisfied with the DNS Inspector who was very courteous and informative. Because of him, I will not be getting the shots as there is a 99.9% chance the dog is not rabid.
Jim:
First, I did not mean exhausted from their shift — I meant their job. They are underpaid and overworked and they have rotating schedules.
And, come on, how many people/cops helped you? 2? You gave the entire department a poor grade for the poor service of a few (in this case). Not entirely fair or effective.
Now, by no means, with this argument, am I implying these departments are efficient. Or, that the owners of the dog were appropriately apologetic or cooperative. It sucks you got bit and received typically crappy treatment and service, but I feel this as a blog entry was reaching and overblown.
I get crap service EVERYWHERE - I expect it. That’s why it’s of UTMOST importance in my own businesses that my customers are taken care of .. it makes us stand out ahead of the crowd …
But to expect perfect caring service of law enforcement? They don’t know you or what the other side of the story is .. they are trained to assess situations and react in crisis. You were not having a crisis in their opinion.
Did you call to find out what a good time would be to go in and file a report? Did you call animal control? Did you seek medical attention first (don’t recall)?
And, I just think you are on a slippery slope when you start bashing cops for being somewhat apathetic. I have a hell of a lot of respect for anyone who’d take on that career and depend on them to protect me.
Most likely they KNEW the statistics .. and, perhaps they could have shared that with you. But, maybe they didn’t have the appropriate amount of sensitivity training?
… Just sayin’ …
Two cops helped me. The first cop said it wouldn’t be long because only one person was in front of me. No one else was in the lobby. The next cop, an hour and fifteen minutes later, took my statement for all of 5 minutes. He was very professional.
I think I’m reading you correctly to say the title of this post was over-reaching. I will give it some thought and consider changing the title. Suggestions?
As for a good time to file a report, I was there at the best time. That’s what the desk guy said.
My intention was not to bash all cops. It was more of a statement of fact that I got substandard service in my specific case and there was no reasonable reason for it. Had a few cops have been more interested in the lone guy sitting in the lobby and less interested in debating the benefits of pizza over burgers for takeout, I would have not complained.
As for sensitivity training, you’re over-reaching on that one. All I wanted was at least the minimum level of customer service that I could have expected in the private sector. Instead, I sat and waited. My feelings weren’t hurt and I’m not a tenderfoot.
There’s no reason I or anyone should have to deal with substandard service.