How long does 911 keep the ...

[What the heck?]

How long do they keep the recordings of incoming calls? I'm in Houston and working on a piece (lit) that I'd would like the facts before I get in trouble. Where do I find this information at?

[GoDirectly2Jail]

How long do they keep the recordings of incoming calls? I'm in Houston and working on a piece (lit) that I'd would like the facts before I get in trouble. Where do I find this information at?

Why do you want to know how long recordings are kept? What is the "piece (lit)" that you are working on that would get you in trouble? What state are you in? What locality? What did you do?

What the heck, indeed.

[mcsap]

SO........what did you do anyway ?

[MrJim911]

Depends on the state, municipality, etc... Could be as little as 6 months, could be as long as 3 years.

You will need to file a FOIA request with the 911 center or city/county.

[JakeLock]

What the hell is piece (lit)?

Either way stop being a douchbeag

[iluvpopo]

Do you mean like a piece of literature? and you will get in trouble if you don't get it done on time? Thats the only sence I could make out of your question...

[What the heck?]

I'm working on a piece of fiction (lit). I don't want a fictional character doing something that would not legally be possible...thus getting into trouble. Character is going to have enough problems anyway. As for me...I have done nothing wrong that I know of except ask a question.
I don't want to be painting LEO's in a bad light. I don't want to make it tougher for ANYONE because of a piece of fiction that may not ever even see the light of day (I'm just in the process of getting the background/setting and plot details worked out). However, I do want to the piece to be believable and accurate in describing/portraying a LEO's job and how far one would go to help some one out in a difficult situation.
I really don't know anyone locally, on a personal basis, or I would be asking my questions of them, as I would be able to go into specifics with them and get more detailed questions answered.

[GoDirectly2Jail]

You may be able to get your information for free by contacting the Houston PD's media relations contact.

Also, there are several officers on here that may be willing to be a professional consultant for your book for a reasonable fee. You will be selling it for a profit, I assume? And before you you say, "Surely, you must be joking", let me just say that it has been done on this board before.








...and don't call me Surely. :cool:

[Lena]

You wanna make certain your piece of fiction(lit) is factual... teeheeeeee. Sorry... just sayin... ;)

[Creeker]

You wanna make certain your piece of fiction(lit) is factual... teeheeeeee. Sorry... just sayin... ;)

Apparently he wants "factual fictional"... I can appreciate that. ;)

But most Cops don't work in Dispatch centers.

[iluvpopo]

As a former dispatcher I can tell you the amount of time a tape is kept really depends on the department and situation. If it is a serious 911 call it will be kept for years, because it may be needed in court. If it is a noise complaint (barking dog call) it is only kept for 90 days. Most 911 calls are kept a MINIMUM of 90 days...

[TJMS81]

Are you looking for a specific case or just officer/dispatcher interactions in general? May be cheaper and easier to get a scanner.

[StationM]

As others have said, it's agency specific, mostly based on storage space.

My agency keeps tapes for 6 months, and CAD archives for a year. The only exception would be high profile cases where copies had been requested for trials.

They are legal documents, and subject to subpoena, although we have retained many for training purposes.

I appreciate someone taking the time to get details right - always bugs me when authors have their characters do things that would never fly in the real world.