5 ms·

This is actually something I've wondered about. What is the non-emergency number?

by cpburns2009 8d ago

ninju 8d ago
You might have to google it because it's not standardized across the country https://www.google.com/search?q=police+non+emergency+number+in+my+area https://www.google.com/search?q=police+non+emergency+number+...
dghlsakjg 8d ago
It’s just a regular phone number, so it depends what department you are trying to call. Google or a phone book is what you need.
- cpburns2009 6d ago
  How do you know what number to Google? Here's a real example. The day after a storm I noticed a tree leaning on a powerline. This was ~20 miles from where I live in a different county and township. If I hadn't already lived in that area before, I would have no clue who it call. 911 isn't appropriate because it's not an emergency... but that does need to get fixed.
  - ButlerianJihad 6d ago
    That's a 3-1-1, good buddy Or you can ask an LLM for some guidance.
  - dghlsakjg 6d ago
    You could do something like just call the non emergency line. They will tell you if they are the correct people to handle it. If not, you use your god given brain to think, “hmm, what do we call a company that handles the distribution of electrical power?” You will probably arrive on the term “power company”. Then you can think, “hmm. What is a resource I can use to find their phone number?”. At that point you might realize that you have a little black rectangle in your pocket that is connected to a company called google that will tell you this exact information if you search “local power company”. If you inspect this device carefully, you will notice that it has more digits than just 9 and 1. You don’t even need to know where you are, google will do that for you to save your brain the trouble of overtaxing itself. In fact google will surface the clickable phone number for emergencies in your area if you do this (I just checked). In any case, if you think it might be an emergency, it’s ok to call 911. They explicitly ask you to if there is doubt. The main thing is if you KNOW it isn’t an emergency, then, well, it isn’t an emergency. You have time to figure out what the correct thing to do is, because, again, it isn’t an emergency.
  - BenjiWiebe 6d ago
    For that, call 911. It's a fire risk, and if the tree pushes the line down to the ground, it's an electrocution risk. At least in our county, the non-emergency number calls the same people as the emergency number. The emergency number has recording and location and all that fun stuff. And a different ringtone. You needn't be afraid of calling 911. Story time: I've called 911 and immediately said "this is not an emergency" when the call was picked up. I then said that the high speed chase "bad guy" had taken the exit and killed his lights. The 911 dispatcher relayed the info over the radio and the cops all hit the brakes and made a u-turn in the median immediately.
- dlcarrier 8d ago
  It's usually on the web page of the local police or sheriff department.
FireBeyond 8d ago
The one thing you can do is call 911 and when they respond, just say "I need the non-emergency line" and they'll usually transfer you immediately or just check quickly with you. Just don't waffle on.
- dghlsakjg 7d ago
  Please don’t tie up emergency dispatchers by using them like a receptionist. You can just google the number.
  - doubleg72 7d ago
    It's the same people as non emergency line
    - dghlsakjg 6d ago
      Not everywhere. And in the places that is true, 911 gets priority in the queue. If it’s not an emergency, there is no reason to call 911.
  - cpburns2009 6d ago
    How do you know what number to even Google if it's not where you immediately live?
    - dghlsakjg 6d ago
      The same way you would find out how to call literally any place that you don’t currently know the number for. What world do you live in where you need to make a non emergency call to the local police, but can’t just google “PLACE NAME police non emergency phone”? Most people don’t know the police non emergency line for where they DO live, so you can safely just use the same procedure you use at home for phone number discovery when you are away from home. If you don’t have that dialed in, google can help you there too. It’s a fantastic place to learn all sorts of basic life skills.
1659447091 8d ago
In the USA its 311 https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/nationally-assigned-3-digit-numbers-n11 https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/nationally-assigned-3-d...
- ButlerianJihad 8d ago
  311 does not reach law enforcement. 311 is the number to complain about code violations or request routine maintenance from the municipal government. The types of requests that go through City Hall during office hours.
  - 1659447091 8d ago
    They can give the location of the nearest police or fire station, for some non-emergancy law enforcement issues they will put you through to the county sheriff. Had a friend call over a property dispute with their roommate and they got and sent a sheriff over (within a city that had its own municipal police force)
- JohnFen 8d ago
  I had no idea 311 existed. If I'm honest, I had no idea there was any three digit shortcut aside from 911. Although now that I think of it, I may have seen signs near buried utilities saying to call 811 before digging. Interesting.

This is actually something I've wondered about. What is the non-emergency number?

You might have to google it because it's not standardized across the country https://www.google.com/search?q=police+non+emergency+number+in+my+area https://www.google.com/search?q=police+non+emergency+number+...

dghlsakjg 8d ago

It’s just a regular phone number, so it depends what department you are trying to call. Google or a phone book is what you need.

cpburns2009 6d ago
How do you know what number to Google? Here's a real example. The day after a storm I noticed a tree leaning on a powerline. This was ~20 miles from where I live in a different county and township. If I hadn't already lived in that area before, I would have no clue who it call. 911 isn't appropriate because it's not an emergency... but that does need to get fixed.
- ButlerianJihad 6d ago
  That's a 3-1-1, good buddy Or you can ask an LLM for some guidance.
- dghlsakjg 6d ago
  You could do something like just call the non emergency line. They will tell you if they are the correct people to handle it. If not, you use your god given brain to think, “hmm, what do we call a company that handles the distribution of electrical power?” You will probably arrive on the term “power company”. Then you can think, “hmm. What is a resource I can use to find their phone number?”. At that point you might realize that you have a little black rectangle in your pocket that is connected to a company called google that will tell you this exact information if you search “local power company”. If you inspect this device carefully, you will notice that it has more digits than just 9 and 1. You don’t even need to know where you are, google will do that for you to save your brain the trouble of overtaxing itself. In fact google will surface the clickable phone number for emergencies in your area if you do this (I just checked). In any case, if you think it might be an emergency, it’s ok to call 911. They explicitly ask you to if there is doubt. The main thing is if you KNOW it isn’t an emergency, then, well, it isn’t an emergency. You have time to figure out what the correct thing to do is, because, again, it isn’t an emergency.
- BenjiWiebe 6d ago
  For that, call 911. It's a fire risk, and if the tree pushes the line down to the ground, it's an electrocution risk. At least in our county, the non-emergency number calls the same people as the emergency number. The emergency number has recording and location and all that fun stuff. And a different ringtone. You needn't be afraid of calling 911. Story time: I've called 911 and immediately said "this is not an emergency" when the call was picked up. I then said that the high speed chase "bad guy" had taken the exit and killed his lights. The 911 dispatcher relayed the info over the radio and the cops all hit the brakes and made a u-turn in the median immediately.
dlcarrier 8d ago
It's usually on the web page of the local police or sheriff department.

FireBeyond 8d ago

The one thing you can do is call 911 and when they respond, just say "I need the non-emergency line" and they'll usually transfer you immediately or just check quickly with you. Just don't waffle on.

dghlsakjg 7d ago
Please don’t tie up emergency dispatchers by using them like a receptionist. You can just google the number.
- doubleg72 7d ago
  It's the same people as non emergency line
  - dghlsakjg 6d ago
    Not everywhere. And in the places that is true, 911 gets priority in the queue. If it’s not an emergency, there is no reason to call 911.
- cpburns2009 6d ago
  How do you know what number to even Google if it's not where you immediately live?
  - dghlsakjg 6d ago
    The same way you would find out how to call literally any place that you don’t currently know the number for. What world do you live in where you need to make a non emergency call to the local police, but can’t just google “PLACE NAME police non emergency phone”? Most people don’t know the police non emergency line for where they DO live, so you can safely just use the same procedure you use at home for phone number discovery when you are away from home. If you don’t have that dialed in, google can help you there too. It’s a fantastic place to learn all sorts of basic life skills.

1659447091 8d ago

In the USA its 311 https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/nationally-assigned-3-digit-numbers-n11 https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/nationally-assigned-3-d...

ButlerianJihad 8d ago
311 does not reach law enforcement. 311 is the number to complain about code violations or request routine maintenance from the municipal government. The types of requests that go through City Hall during office hours.
- 1659447091 8d ago
  They can give the location of the nearest police or fire station, for some non-emergancy law enforcement issues they will put you through to the county sheriff. Had a friend call over a property dispute with their roommate and they got and sent a sheriff over (within a city that had its own municipal police force)
JohnFen 8d ago
I had no idea 311 existed. If I'm honest, I had no idea there was any three digit shortcut aside from 911. Although now that I think of it, I may have seen signs near buried utilities saying to call 811 before digging. Interesting.