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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Help number hard to recall

The phone number for Spokane County residents to report non-emergency crimes just isn’t working, city and law enforcement officials acknowledge.

But what’s the best alternative for reporting crimes that don’t meet the threshold for a 911 emergency call? And who should pay for a system expected to cost more than $1.1 million a year, plus start-up costs?

Spokane officials have been discussing 311 as a possible new non-emergency phone number for the county.

But, “311 is a philosophical discussion right now,” said Lorlee Mizell, Spokane County 911 director. “It is an easy number to remember.”

The non-emergency number has worked well in Minneapolis, New York and Florida’s Miami-Dade County, to name a few of the more than two dozen U.S. cities that use it.

Minneapolis’ system is being looked at as a model because its size is comparable to Spokane County, officials said.

The Minnesota city opened its 311 call center in January, and Minneapolis’ mayor, R.T. Rybak, has been surprised at the public’s reaction.

“People actually stop him on the street and thank him,” said Jeremy Hanson, Rybak’s communications director. “The mayor gets constant positive feedback.”

Minneapolis’ 311 model can be used for almost everything, Hanson said. People can call the number to find out if a school is closed, when the library is open, how to get their pet licensed or to report a week-old theft.

“It’s simplified government and become a tool for citizens,” Hanson said.

John Dejung, director of Minneapolis’ 911 and 311 call centers, said the operational budget for the 311 system is $2.6 million annually. The cost to build the center and purchase the equipment and the software for the start-up was slightly more than $6 million.

In Spokane, “there is some frustration on the part of the public with the system we have now,” said Joe Shogan, City Council president and a public safety committee member. “We’re looking at every angle,” Shogan said.

“If we could institute 311, and it was properly used, it would be a great resource,” said Spokane police Lt. Glenn Winkey, who oversees Spokane police dispatching.

The biggest problems with the current system – the Spokane Crime Reporting Center – are that it’s closed nights, holidays and most of each weekend, and it’s difficult to remember the seven-digit phone number, law enforcement officials say. So, county residents are dialing 911 to report non-emergency crimes or not telling law enforcement about illegal activities at all.

Two recent incidents demonstrate the confusion.

In August, a Spokane Valley woman called 911 repeatedly because her cat was stuck in a tree. The 38-year-old woman was told her call was not appropriate because her emergency was not human-related, but she continued to call back, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan. She was eventually charged with telephone harassment.

In October, a Nine Mile Falls woman interrupted a burglar at her home but didn’t call 911 because she was afraid she might be misusing the 911 system.

Law enforcement officials have tried to make it clear that 911 should be used only for in-progress crimes, but residents still appear to be confused, law enforcement officials say. Or, people are simply frustrated because they can’t find the non-emergency number, and sometimes when they do dial the number, no one answers.

“Every time I give (the phone number) out, I have to look it up,” Winkey said.

Crime Check, the former non-emergency number that was disconnected in early 2005, received 48,000 crime reports for the Spokane Police Department in its last year of operation, Winkey said.

This year, the reporting center will write up about 24,000 reports – and crime has not dropped by 50 percent, he added.

But making the change from a seven-digit number could cause problems, Winkey said.

Spokane residents already dial 411 for directory assistance and 911 for emergencies. They soon will dial 211 for mental-health services.

Adding another three-digit number may cause confusion, Winkey said.