I was a volunteer for quite a while at a hotline and I assure you everyone did care very much and talked for hours with people having problems. I think the idea was that if someone was calling and saying they were literally about to kill themselves that it was a call for help so the police might be sent. I do agree with you that this might have happened a little too much or in situations that in the end were inappropriate but as a volunteer on the phone it is hard to tell. If you talk with a person for hours about all their pain and then they say they just took a bottle of pills it is hard to just hang up. Even if you are super experienced and don't think the person is actually following through there is always that nagging doubt that you might be wrong. And usually you never know so you wonder and it eats away at you. So I think that is why sometimes volunteer (or professional) staff might get the police or other authories involved too much. It isn't vindictive even though it backfires sometimes. They might not even realize the negative effects. I'm sorry this happened to you and you make some very valid points but I think crisis lines overall help a lot of people. For some there is no where else to turn to.