4 ms·

I'm not a native of the US, so I could be wrong, but aren't you only supposed to call 911 for an immediate emergency situation?

noonespecial 18y ago
Ostensibly yes, but in America it has basically become a synonym for "nearest police department". We should only use it when we need a fire-truck/ambulance/police-car here as fast as possible, but it has become acceptable in most areas to dial it to report burglaries, vandalism, missing persons etc.
- ForgotMyName 18y ago
  And Americans wonder why response times deteriorate?
  - jimbokun 18y ago
    Seems that it's more efficient just to let 911 take all calls and route appropriately. Taking calls, determining if the situation is urgent, getting the necessary information from possibly panicked callers, etc. I know that a law enforcement officer told us to always call 911 if we saw illegal activity, because if nothing else they periodically map the calls and use that to determine where to patrol.
  - tlrobinson 18y ago
    It shouldn't take more than a few seconds to determine most non-urgent calls aren't urgent and transfer them somewhere else.
ken 18y ago
That's what they taught me in school, but it's not what my police department thinks. It probably varies by location. I reported a crime about 2 years ago, and they needed my signature on an official statement. The department left a message that said "When you're home next, call back 555-1212 extension 9999, or just call 911 and ask for detective so-and-so". I figured, when am I going to get to call 911 again? So I called, stated that I had no emergency, but was told I could get in touch with detective so-and-so, and they transferred me to him and were even really nice about it.
aneesh 18y ago
Theoretically, but it's more efficient to let the police filter & route calls appropriately. Trusting 300 million people to manage it themselves can be dangerous -- you'll get both non-emergencies calling 911, and true emergencies afraid to call 911.
cstejerean 18y ago
One of the first things they ask you when you call 911 is if your call is an emergency. Being able to get in touch with the local police for non-emergency issues by calling 911 means you don't have to know the phone number for every local police station.

noonespecial 18y ago

Ostensibly yes, but in America it has basically become a synonym for "nearest police department". We should only use it when we need a fire-truck/ambulance/police-car here as fast as possible, but it has become acceptable in most areas to dial it to report burglaries, vandalism, missing persons etc.

ForgotMyName 18y ago
And Americans wonder why response times deteriorate?
- jimbokun 18y ago
  Seems that it's more efficient just to let 911 take all calls and route appropriately. Taking calls, determining if the situation is urgent, getting the necessary information from possibly panicked callers, etc. I know that a law enforcement officer told us to always call 911 if we saw illegal activity, because if nothing else they periodically map the calls and use that to determine where to patrol.
- tlrobinson 18y ago
  It shouldn't take more than a few seconds to determine most non-urgent calls aren't urgent and transfer them somewhere else.

ken 18y ago

That's what they taught me in school, but it's not what my police department thinks. It probably varies by location. I reported a crime about 2 years ago, and they needed my signature on an official statement. The department left a message that said "When you're home next, call back 555-1212 extension 9999, or just call 911 and ask for detective so-and-so". I figured, when am I going to get to call 911 again? So I called, stated that I had no emergency, but was told I could get in touch with detective so-and-so, and they transferred me to him and were even really nice about it.

aneesh 18y ago

Theoretically, but it's more efficient to let the police filter & route calls appropriately. Trusting 300 million people to manage it themselves can be dangerous -- you'll get both non-emergencies calling 911, and true emergencies afraid to call 911.

cstejerean 18y ago

One of the first things they ask you when you call 911 is if your call is an emergency. Being able to get in touch with the local police for non-emergency issues by calling 911 means you don't have to know the phone number for every local police station.