Washtenaw Metro Dispatch adopts one phone number for non-emergency calls
The Washtenaw Metro Dispatch has adopted one common phone number for people to call in non-emergency situations, officials announced Tuesday.
After police dispatch services were consolidated between the city of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, call takers at dispatch were answering multiple non-emergency lines, said David Halteman, 911 coordinator.
Metro dispatch will be using (734) 994-2911 exclusively for all non-emergency calls, effective immediately. The number was adopted previously for county dispatch use.
“It improves our way of managing the calls,” Halteman said.
Metro dispatch handles calls for the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office, Ann Arbor Police Department, Huron Area Metro Parks Police, Michigan State Police, Northfield Township Police and the Ypsilanti Police Department.
The non-emergency line will continue to be answered by the same trained metro dispatch staff.
Contact Halteman with any questions at (734) 973-4548.
Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.
Comments
Amy Biolchini
Wed, Mar 27, 2013 : 1:56 p.m.
As an example, we call the non-emergency number for dispatch (and most other police/fire departments) to ask questions about breaking news events, to find out which roads may be affected and where an incident may be taking place. There are certain things dispatchers can't tell us -- and they abide by that.
Youwhine
Wed, Mar 27, 2013 : 6:40 a.m.
I am sure the folks at Washtenaw Metro Dispatch were really excited that you used a photo from HVA dispatch.
Brad
Wed, Mar 27, 2013 : 12:25 a.m.
Care to elaborate on what these "non-emergency calls" might normally involve? Potholes? Loud parties? Excessive idling? Bombs that aren't ticking? What??
Tom Todd
Wed, Mar 27, 2013 : 2:33 a.m.
are these the calls that will take three hours to show up for.
umylulz
Wed, Mar 27, 2013 : 1:52 a.m.
It's not just for Meijer 411 and time & weather checks... When I worked at a downtown Ypsi watering hole, we used non-emergency for things like aggressive bums harassing our customers outside, trouble makers who had been removed without physical incident but could still pose a problem to the public, etc. Basically anything the cops should know about or help with that wasn't threatening bodily harm or property destruction.
Solitude
Wed, Mar 27, 2013 : 12:41 a.m.
Well Brad, given that people call 911 every day to ask things like "What time is trick-or-treating this year," and "Do we turn our clocks back or ahead this weekend," and "Do you know why there's an orange barrel at the corner of First and Main," and "Do you know how late Meijers is open tonight,"I think you can probably get some idea of what types of calls the county is hoping will be coming in on that line.