Feuer Calls for Nonemergency Phone Line for Police, Fire

Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Feuer on Wednesday recommended 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 crimes, 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 by the city of 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 a year. But about 80% of those are nonemergency calls. Those calls are now 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 efficiently.

“A citywide nonemergency phone number would allow the Police Department to provide faster response in true emergencies because 911 lines would not be clogged with nonemergency calls,” he said.

The Federal Communications Commission has already reserved the 311 number throughout the nation for use as a nonemergency phone number.

The motion that Feuer introduced Wednesday asks the chief of police and the city administrative officer to report to the council’s Public Safety Committee within 45 days on a plan to launch the 311 system in Los Angeles.

Feuer said that the key to the effort will be an information campaign to promote the use of the nonemergency number.

Earlier this year, Police Chief Willie L. Williams held a news conference to urge residents to only use 911 for true emergencies.

At that time, he said the department was trying to get a single, seven-digit, citywide number to call in nonemergency situations.

But Cmdr. Carlo Cudio, who heads the LAPD’s communications programs, said he continues to look into the seven-digit number plan and is now studying the 311 alternative.

Cudio, however, warned that the city would have to pay for communications hardware to establish a 311 system, while a seven-digit number can be offered by a phone company, with the cost of each call billed to the city.

“I would have loved to have done this months ago, but I have limited resources,” he said.

It is possible to get a state or federal grant to help pay for a 311 system, Cudio added.