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Chicago aldermen unleashed their anger Wednesday about 30-minute response times to 911 calls and about calltakers hanging up on constituents who try the city's 311 non-emergency number.

With 911 Center chief Jose Santiago on the hot seat at City Council budget hearings, Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) told a horror story about a home invasion that culminated in a car theft.

"There was an incident two consecutive days. Each time, the people called 911 four times while the burglars were in there burglarizing the property. It took OEMC to dispatch more than 30 minutes. A day later, they spotted the burglar in their car in the ward, called 911 again and it took another 30 minutes to respond," Hairston said.

"If there's a constituent who is chasing someone who has stolen their car, that should be a priority. There has got to be some better coordination. Otherwise, the city is gonna be looking at some lawsuits in a situation where the constituent is not so fortunate and they get injured as a result of you all not dispatching the call."

Santiago responded to the complaints, essentially by pointing the finger at the Chicago Police Department. He said the five million annual calls to the 911 center are answered in two rings, but that calls are prioritized into four categories, based on a protocol established by police.

"The Police Department sets those criteria. All we do is facilitate those orders that are given to us," he said.

"They set the priorities and we facilitate their rules. We follow the protocol that's given to us. However, the priorities are set by police and fire - whether they're the 1, 2, 3, 4 - that is their call."

The response didn't sit well with Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th), who's tired of playing the blame game.

"We have two different agencies that are both directly involved in providing safety for our citizens that stand up at CAPS meeting and community meetings all over the city and they point the finger at each other. It's intellectually dishonest," she said.

"Maybe people should stop lying to the citizens. They begin to understand that it's a lie - and nobody wants to wear the jacket. But somebody is getting paid to wear the jacket. It's very frustrating for us."

As for the 311 hang-ups, Lyle said, "I just thought it was some mechanism that was built into the system. You got too many calls. You don't feel like being bothered. Just disconnect the people after they wait. I don't think that's what taxpayers expect to pay for."

Last year, aldermen held a hearing to complain about the geographic disparity in 911 calls when there is no police car available to respond.

At the time, then-Deputy Police Superintendent Dan Dugan told them that "violence and life-and-limb" calls are always moved to the "top of the pile." But he argued that it's the borderline calls that sometimes get short shrift - and might need to be handled differently.

"We as a department dispatch approximately 68 percent of the calls we receive at the 911 center. Look at major cities throughout the United States. They're dispatching at about 30 percent," Dugan said then.

"We might be a victim of our own success. We've asked people to call 911, and people call 911. Are they all the right calls- Or can we maybe [divert some calls] to a more appropriate venue that doesn't require a police officer actually showing up at the scene- "