Re-Cap on 911/242-COPS/311 Educational Session

Re-Cap on 911/242-COPS/311 Educational Session

Friday, 3/18/22

ALBUQUERQUE – On Friday, March 18th, APD invited members of the local media on a zoom call with Deputy Chief JJ Griego, Emergency Communications Center Manager Erika Wilson, Division Manager for 311 Carrie Prothero and Joshua Reeves, the Public Outreach and Performance Manager for ACS.

For those who could not attend, during the session we discussed the difference between calling 911 versus 242-COPS and 311. As a reminder 911 is the emergency line and 242-COPS is the non-emergency line.

Here are some examples:

911

-          Shooting, stabbing, or life-threating injuries, medical calls

-          Serious crashes, w/injuries 

-          Drunk driver on the roadway

-          Active home burglary, offender on scene

242-COPS

-          Minor traffic crash w/out injuries

-          Online reporting

-          Residential or commercial burglary – w/time delay or no offender on scene

-          Loud Party

-          Suspicious activity

311

- Graffiti Sighting – Solid Waste

- Illegal Fireworks – AFR

- Animal Noise Complaint – Animal Welfare

- Abandoned Vehicles – APD or Zoning

- Homeless Encampment – ACS

-Nuisance Property – Planning

- Needles – Various Departments

- Noise Complaint – Environmental Health

Here is a link to a document online for reference.

ACS calls also come through 911 and 242-COPS and those calls are dispatched by Fire. Their role is to increase public safety by providing a holistic and trauma-informed response to calls for service. 911 dispatch sends the trained professionals through ACS with backgrounds in behavioral and mental health and social services to non-violent and non-medical calls.

Additionally, we also discussed what happens when 911 calls come into the Emergency Communications Center. Calls are delivered to 911 via your network provider.

Here is a diagram for reference:

Many people often ask, do calls always get to 911? If the provider delivers the call to the 911 network center, then yes.   If the provider doesn’t deliver the call to the 911 network, the 911 center cannot answer it. 

There are currently 75 authorized positions for Telecommunicators I/911 Operators and currently have 71 positions filled. There are 42 positions authorized for Telecommunicator II/911 Dispatcher and 27 positions are filled.

Anyone interested in job opportunities at the Emergency Communications Center can visit this link to view openings. APD also recently put out a new recruiting video for dispatchers and 911 operators, you can view that video here.

Lastly, we discussed current service levels/answer times. Please see below:

2021

-          911: 447,940 911 calls received

o   80.41% of 911 calls answered within 15 seconds*

o  81.18% of 911 calls answered within 20 seconds*

o   242-COPS  550,743 calls received

o   All other inbound lines 105,258/Outbound calls 376,412

Week ending 3/6/2022

o   8,249 911 calls received

o   82.31% of 911 calls answered within 15 seconds*

o   83.69% of 911 calls answered within 20 seconds*

o   9,386 242-COPS calls received. 

###