Plan to Ease Burden on 911 System Proposed
Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Feuer recommended Wednesday establishing a nonemergency phone number for the police and fire departments to reduce the number of 911 calls.
Under his proposal, residents throughout the city would be able to dial 311 to report incidents that are not life threatening, such as barking dogs, graffiti, illegal dumping and car burglaries.
The calls would be answered by an existing bank of operators who would decide the appropriate police response.
Feuer said he hopes to pattern the system after a pilot program that was launched this month in Baltimore with the help of AT&T; and the U.S. Department of Justice.
The city’s 911 system handles more than 5 million calls per year. But about 80% of those are nonemergency calls. Those calls are answered by 911 operators before they are rerouted to other operators.
Feuer said his goal is to ease the burden on the 911 system so that it can operate more effectively.
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