When to call 911, and when not to? Find out firsthand

| Crime | Safety | West Seattle news

It’s been discussed here before: Southwest Precinct police leadership advises “call 911 if you see something/someone suspicious,” and we’ve reported that here, multiple times; then on occasion someone who does call, reports back that they were told that wasn’t an emergency and they shouldn’t have called 911. The West Seattle Crime Prevention Council has been pursuing such concerns with 911 system managers, and Lt. Greg Schmidt, who runs the SPD 911 center, will be the guest at the next WSCPC meeting a week from Tuesday, to explain how it works, to answer questions, to listen to concerns. The reason we’re telling you now is not just so you can mark your calendar, but also because, if you have a specific question they can get to him in advance, particularly about a specific case in which you called 911 and didn’t get the response you expected, they’d like to hear from you by next Thursday – e-mail the WSCPC’s staff liaison from Seattle Neighborhood Group (which by the way is NOT a city agency), Jennifer Duong, at jennifer@sngi.org. The council’s meeting also, as always, will include crime reports and neighborhood “hot spot” concerns; it’ll be at 7 pm February 17 at the SW Precinct meeting room.

Michael February 8, 2009 (3:43 pm)

Not sure why in the world anyone would think or say that 911 is for anything other than emergencies (or why a news organization would let that thought pass the “smell test”), but as someone who reads and thinks critically, I can tell you that 911 is for emergencies.
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Hope that helps.

Meegan February 8, 2009 (7:46 pm)

I think it is confusing when to call 911 and when to just call the police station. We see suspicious activity on our street (30th between Brandon and Juneau), but unless it seems like someone is being harmed, I feel like I shouldn’t be tying up 911. Then what happens is that by the time I’ve decided it’s gone on long enough to call, the activity stops, and the police haven’t arrived.

WSB February 9, 2009 (2:40 am)

Police reiterate over and over again: When in doubt, default to 911. What we have reported, over and over again, from local police is along the lines of the first section here:
http://www.ci.lynnwood.wa.us/police/LPDContent/Education/911.asp

If you are following those guidelines and NOT getting response, that’s what the 911 center wants to hear about, and that’s what the Crime Prevention Council has been working with them on. The “suspicious” sighting just might be what busts a crime case wide open.

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