January 17, 2008
D.C. Council Shares Concern About 311 Switch
When we first told you about Mayor Fenty's plan to announce next week that the Mayor's Citywide Call Center number will switch to 311, a lot of commenters expressed skepticism and concern about whether sending all non-emergency police, fire and EMS calls to 911 was a good plan.
Now WTOP is reporting that some D.C. Council members share the same concerns. Council member Phil Mendelson, who chairs the committee on public safety that includes police, fire and the 911 call center, said he plans to hold an oversight hearing on the issue Feb. 21, even though the Mayor still hasn't officially announced the change. Mendelson agrees that the change is going to be confusing to the public, who are used to calling 311 in non-emergencies."That sounds like a horrible idea. Why would you combine emergency and non-emergency police calls? 911 is barely responsive enough as it is." - registeringsucks
"It's a terrible idea. There are times when I've called 311 and I would never use 911 to clog up the system." - alyssa
"awful, awful plan by the city. why go against how 9-1-1 and 3-1-1 work everywhere else in the country?" - goat boy
Police and 911 officials declined to comment on WTOP's story until the Mayor makes his announcement next week.
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I call 311 all the time regarding the crack whores in my back alley and the crack house 2 doors down from me. Does Fenty really think I'm gonna call 911 for this stuff? We've all been raised (I think) to respect the 911, it's for life and death type situations.
PS- It's snowing! Yay!
Both 311 and 911 calls already went to the same people answering the same phones in the same room, who all were trained to and did assess the relative priority of those calls. So, it's what's being done now regarding 311/727-1000/911 will not dump any additional non-emergency calls onto the emergency call system because they were already there.
OK, so 311/911 calls were all handled by the same people, makes me feel a little better. Did the 727-1000 calls also go to the same operators? I pictured that call center being a bunch of ladies with switchboards in the basement of the Wilson Building or something.
i was under the impression that 9-1-1 and 3-1-1 were ringing through on the same lines because of a shortage of workers, not because that's how the systems were intended to function. dc needs to have separate dedicated 9-1-1 and 3-1-1 telecommunicators in order to ensure that the public have a highly effective and responsive emergency communications system that people can trust.
There is a difference between what is being proposed and what is happening now. Even if they are handled by the same pool, I am certain that the operators are aware of whether a particular caller came in through 311 or 911. And I am sure the 911 calls take priority. Under the new proposal, the same number would be used for both kinds of call. There is no way to prioritize them until the person is on the line. In cases of high call volume, they would not be able to have the non-emergency calls (on a different number) be put on hold, for example. They have to answer every call and speak to the person in order to determine whether it's an emergency. This is an awful, stupid, broke-ass idea.
The 727 (now 311) calls to people trained (emergency operators are certified) differently. But all calls go to the Unified Call Center, which is not in the basement of the WB. :)
Add http to beginning of link and See:
ouc.dc.gov/ouc/site/default.asp?oucNav=|32044|
Well I have no dog in the hunt for DC, but I can give you (as an example) how Chicago works.
911 calls go first to a police 911 operator on the near west side. As soon as anything requiring a fire/ems response is mentioned, its supposed to be transferred immediately to a fire operator on the other side of the gigantic 3rd floor communications room at the 911 center. The police call taker is supposed to stay on the line while the fire call taker takes information.
There are far, far fewer fire/EMS call takers, and they are all supposed to be EMT certified (or something like that).
311 calls go to a completely separate building a few blocks away. The 311 call takers also take overflow 911 calls during peak hours (7/4, 12/31), and they will transfer emergency calls to a police 911 calltaker in the 911 building if necessary.
Different intended functions, different payscales, different work expectations and expected demeanor.
Petworthian, a good guide I've heard for police calltaking at least is that 75% of those who starts off a conversation with an excited "I have an emergency" will not describe an emergency. They will describe kids loitering or parking violations etc. And 75% of the people (usually in the worst neighborhoods) who start with "I'm not sure if this is an emergency", will describe an emergency. They will describe somebody getting shot or beaten with pipes on the street etc.
As usual the City Council meddling in the affairs of other Offices. Although the District demonstrates its ineptitude in a number of other ways, I am more than certain the MPD, OUC, and Mayor's Office thoroughly reviewed manpower, budget, and logistics before making this move.