By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

A lesson in how to call 911 – what to say, what not to say, when to call, when not to call – comprised the heart of Tuesday night’s West Seattle Blockwatch Captains Network meeting at the Southwest Precinct.

Teaching the lesson, Kayreen Lum, a King County 911 program manager. We’ve heard this lesson before, from different presenters, before different groups, but every time there is something new to learn:

Of the 12 call centers in King County, two are in Seattle – one police, one fire. All Seattle 911 calls, according to Lum, go to the police call center first. Seattle 911 got more than half a million calls last year, averaging almost 1,400 a day. The highest volume was in August (no surprise, considering that was Sonic Boom month); the lowest, in March. (SFD also had a spike on July 8, 2010 – the hottest day of the year.)

Interesting side point: two-thirds of all 911 calls in Seattle came from cell phones.

Since King County has “Enhanced 911,” Lum explained, the calls arrive with some accompanying information – the phone number, the name of the subscriber or company, the exact address for land lines, the approximate location for cell phones, and if you are using an Internet (VoIP) service, “whatever you told the provider your address is” will show up on the 911 call-taker’s screen.

Lum walked the group through what a call-taker will ask:

*What is your emergency? Her advice: Keep it short and sweet. Don’t blurt out too much information. They’re just trying to determine, fast, whether to get you police or fire help. They may even cut you off if you veer into more information than they initially need.

*What is the location of the emergency? Even if you think they should have the address – they want to make sure what they see is where you are calling from. If you don’t have the exact address – cross streets? building name? nearby landmark?

*What is your name and the phone number you are calling from? Again, they need to verify this even if they see a number on their screen – and they want to make sure they’ll be able to call you back if disconnected. (You can ask to be anonymous, by the way.)

A point relevant here is one that emerged toward the end of Lum’s presentation, regarding the recent TV-news story about someone who tried to report a robbery on the 128 bus line in South King County and was told no one would be dispatched. Lum made it clear she wasn’t trying to excuse the situation, but said that after listening to a recording of the call, she noticed several things – background noise, which call-takers are trained to listen for (to gauge the urgency of a situation), was missing; the caller reported a theft, which isn’t the description for what happened (more on that later); the caller (not the victim) seemed overly calm.

*More details: Questions may be asked that relate to police-officer safety (if it’s a situation that seems to warrant police), your safety, reaching you, suspect description, etc. Don’t worry about giving complete details, stressed Lum – someone later will take a full report, whether it’s an officer, fire investigator, etc. But do answer whatever questions they ask, since they might need to determine the status of your safety, the potential safety of any officer sent to the scene, etc.

Also: “We may keep you on the phone,” she said, ” but that doesn’t mean we haven’t sent help.” In fact, she clarified something that, from discussions we’ve seen here, might seem to be a misunderstanding – the person who takes your call is NOT the person who is arranging to send help; they are typing and sending information to a dispatcher, who is the person actually dealing directly with officers, firefighters, etc., telling them where to go,

When Lum started to say “don’t call 911 if it’s not an emergency,” that led to a lot of conversation to clarify what constituted an emergency.

Examples:

*If you are calling to seek information – “was that an earthquake? am I the only person whose power is out?” – it’s not an emergency. But if you are calling to report a specific situation in connection with those kinds of problems – “something fell on me during the earthquake and I’m hurt” or “the power’s out because a transformer caught fire and is burning” – that’s an emergency. Even in the case of last August’s sonic booms, which generated so many 911 calls that Pierce County’s system went down and King County’s system routed overflow to Yakima (a capability so old that Lum said no one realized that could happen), the calls were unnecessary – even for those who thought it was a bomb, if they didn’t actually see an explosion, there was nothing 911 could do about it.

*”Suspicious behavior” is an emergency – if you think a crime might have been committed, or perhaps will soon be committed. (That led to a side conversation about the case of the Fauntleroy murder suspect, seen climbing out of a ravine near the scene by someone who had never seen anyone do that before, but didn’t call police till posting a WSB comment and eliciting “call the police!” pleas – as you likely know by now, that led to the suspect’s arrest.)

*”If it does not require lights and sirens, it’s probably not a 911 call,” was Lum’s bottom line. “But if you are unsure, call!”

She also pointed participants to the “Links By Zip” lookup tool, where you can generate a list of who to call about a variety of non-emergency situations, and reminded them that you can’t reach 911 by text or by Facebook/Twitter. She also warned about the limited utility of various services that promise to assist with 911 calls or to notify parents if their children’s cell phone is used to call 911.

And if you call 911 and don’t think you are getting the help you need – ask to speak to a supervisor.

Realize, though, reminded Lum and Community Police Team Officer Jon Kiehn, what you say and don’t say makes a huge difference. While you can’t be expected to be an expert on proper terminology, there’s no question it helps – he explained the difference between theft, robbery, and burglary, for example (theft is something taken without force, robbery is something taken by force/assault, burglary involves going into someplace or something – like a home or car – that doesn’t belong to you, with the intent of committing a crime). And when you are reporting any of the above, do think about what aspects of the situation are the most alarming; Officer Kiehn recalled a complaint from someone not satisfied with the response to their call for help – but, he said, it turned out the upset person hadn’t mentioned that the suspects in the incident had intruded into the victim’s home, and threatened the victim as well. That information, obtained later, would have made a big difference.

Want more information about 911? Here’s the official county page, which also has Lum’s contact information.

Also at the meeting:

CODE FOR AMERICA: Visiting tech experts from this nationwide initiative met with Blockwatch Captains Network leaders last week, reported Deanie Schwarz, who said both sides saw lots of potential in using technology to further the WSBWCN goals. She says they should hear next month about potential next steps in the collaboration. Getting more resources is seen by the group as key, since their responsibilities are expected to grow as the city pulls back on staffing for crime-prevention efforts.

BLOCKWATCH CAPTAINS TRAINING: Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow‘s retirement is now just three weeks away, but he will join WSBWCN in leading one last round of Blockwatch Captain training on March 7, 6 pm.

BLOCKWATCH CAPTAINS NETWORK TURF EXPANDS: They’re not just going to focus on West Seattle – but also inviting the rest of the Southwest Precinct area to join in. Toward that end, Dagmar Cronn from South Park (where she is Neighborhood Association president, among other things) was in attendance.

SURVEY: The WSBWCN survey is still available online, even though its original deadline is past – you can take it here.

SEATTLE POLICE COMMUNITY OUTREACH UNIT: Alex Chapackdee from SPD explained this unit’s work to WSBWCN. It’s another way of working with the community, in the wake of “recent high-profile events.” Four officers are in the unit, with the goal “to start a conversation” with neighborhoods, proactively, and to assist patrol and Community Police Team efforts in growing their community relationships.

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The West Seattle Blockwatch Captains Network meets monthly – keep up with schedules and other communications through its website and its Facebook page.