December 2, 1996

Dialing 911 Not Always Done During Emergencies

By LINDA LEAVELL / Associated Press

DALLAS - You wake up on Election Day and don't feel like looking in a newspaper to find out where to vote. The minister didn't show for your wedding. You missed the lottery numbers last night on TV.

You need help. But you don't need 911.

Still, the Department of Justice reports that the majority of 911 calls in many communities are routine inquiries such as those, tying up dispatchers' time and sometimes blocking serious police, fire or medical emergency calls.

On Election Day last month, dispatchers in the Dallas-area suburb of Euless were inundated with calls from people asking for polling locations. Communications supervisor Melanie Reese said dispatchers tried to provide precinct information when possible, while explaining that 911 is supposed to be for emergencies only.

In Arizona, Scottsdale Mayor Sam Campana called 911 about six times earlier this year for directions while she was driving in her car. She later said she considered her actions an appropriate use of police resources when she is "under duress." The police chief finally gave her three private telephone numbers to try when she gets lost.

Sam Trejo, senior dispatcher at the Harlingen Police Department, said nearly half of the 300 calls his 911 operators receive daily are not actually urgent.

"We get calls from people who ask for the lottery numbers, weather information and even the time. We get a lot from state hospitals that house the mentally challenged," he said. "We get calls from people in our community who have nothing else to do. They use 911 just for conversation."

Trejo recalled one instance in which he was working a call regarding a heart attack victim and was interrupted by a child making a crank call.

Trejo blames laziness and television programs such as "Rescue 911" for the deluge of nonemergency callers.

"They figure that we're like TV - all the calls come in through 911. They want to be a part of that," he said.

Mary Kozak, communications manager for the El Paso Police Department, recalls a 911 operator getting called from someone at a wedding where the preacher failed to show. The person called 911 to find a substitute.

"In their minds that was an emergency," Kozak said. "That was cute and all. We weren't that busy and the operator tried to help them. She got them off 911 and said, 'Well, let me take a look' and got them a couple of numbers."

Jim Goerke, executive director of the Advisory Commission on State Emergency Communications, said the agency has worked hard to teach children the difference between true emergency calls (such as a house fire or a crime in progress) and those that aren't (a cat in a tree, a burglary that has occurred long before the call is made, or vandalism).

Dispatchers say they either transfer nonemergency calls to a regular police line or ask the caller to redial.

Still, Goerke said, most communications workers do not want intimidate people about using 911, because that forces them into deciding whether to call.

As an alternative, the city of Baltimore offers a new number for routine concerns like noisy neighbors and lost pets. Baltimore is the first city in the nation to offer 311, developed after President Clinton issued a request in July to take the pressure off the 911 system.

Goerke said his agency generally opposes 311 "because of that whole issue of confusion and placing the responsibility on the individual of ultimately deciding what's an emergency or what's not."

But at least one Texas city is considering a similar concept. Dallas has petitioned the Texas Public Utility Commission to designate 511 for nonemergency city services, including routine police calls, street and sanitation, animal control and other concerns.

Judith Shaw, interim director of Dallas' Equipment, Communications and Information Services Department, said the request was denied last year because the PUC was awaiting an official ruling from the Federal Communications Commission.

But the city's program is still on the table, she said.

Until such an option is available, dispatchers suggest people keep the regular police number next to the telephone for nonemergency situations.

"If it's not going on right now, you need to go ahead and stop and think a minute," Ms. Kozak said. "If it has just occurred, we would love to hear from you on 911."