CITY TO STUDY CREATION OF 911 ALTERNATIVE FOR NONEMERGENCIES.Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer Concerned that the LAPD's 911 system is bogged down in nonemergency calls, the City Council voted Friday to hire a consultant to study the creation of a phone line to handle calls not requiring an urgent police or fire response. Councilman Mike Feuer noted that 80 percent of the calls to 911 are not urgent and the result is delays in responding to emergencies. Calls have included requests for directions to Disneyland, questions about traffic congestion The condition of a network when there is not enough bandwidth to support the current traffic load. congestion - When the offered load of a data communication path exceeds the capacity. and information on nonpolice city services The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. . ``We have a problem with our 911 system,'' Feuer told his colleagues. ``Throughout the country 911 systems are overloaded o·ver·load tr.v. o·ver·load·ed, o·ver·load·ing, o·ver·loads To load too heavily. n. An excessive load. Adj. 1. with nonemergency calls.'' Because of the flood of nonemergency calls, it takes LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. operators an average of 10 seconds to answer all calls, compared to two seconds in Baltimore. ``Our residents have a right to expect they can get through immediately when they have a life-threatening emergency,'' Feuer said. The council voted to seek bids from consultants to study the feasibility of creating a 311 line or another easy-to-remember toll-free number that can be dialed from anywhere in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. for nonemergency city services. The study will analyze the number of nonemergency calls and the types of calls with an eye toward making it easier for city residents to gain access to non-emergency services, possibly by dialing numbers in a menu for an automated system. Councilwoman Laura Chick chick abbreviation for chicken (1). said the council has the same goal as two charter reform commissions. ``There is technology out there we can make use of,'' Chick said. ``It's how do we make government more accessible and a better listener and better responder to the people living and working in our city?'' While the consultant studies a long-term solution to diverting di·vert v. di·vert·ed, di·vert·ing, di·verts v.tr. 1. To turn aside from a course or direction: Traffic was diverted around the scene of the accident. 2. non-emergency calls away from 911, Feuer said he will bring in a separate proposal in two weeks to set up an easy-to-remember nine-digit telephone line to handle nonemergency calls. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion