As we approach 2010, it has become clear that most things are becoming more complex in the service industry world. As much as we strive to streamline service accessibility, it appears that we end up taking two steps back, for every step forward.
For example, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to access every service you needed in the city by simply calling one three-digit number? Imagine if this number was connected to a call centre where a human being actually answered and assisted you in finding the service that best suited your needs?
That does not really exist today. At present, you had better have a good memory, a cell phone contact list or a phone book handy to remember even the most basic service provider numbers. Just open the phone book and look at all the numbers provided for the various municipal, provincial and federal services and you will know what I mean.
When faced with such overwhelming choice, making the right call can easily lead to making many calls before making the right one. In recognition of this, many service providers have started to simplify access to their services by reducing the amount of numbers one needs to remember before you are connected to the appropriate service.
For example, if you want to contact the police to report a crime in progress or a life threatening situation, you simply dial 911. If you want to locate a person or business’s telephone number, you dial 411. If you want to contact the city because of a bylaw issue, city service or to get in touch with your local councillor’s office, you simply dial 311. Finally, if you want to access the broad range of non-emergency community, social, government and health services, you can dial 211. Remembering 911, 411, 311 or 211 is a relatively easy task for most of us, but the real benefit is that a human being actually answers the other line when you call.
I want to focus on how things work at the Ottawa Police Service. Beyond the emergency number 911, our police service receives many other calls for service from other numbers because 911 is to be used exclusively for the type of emergencies mentioned above. Since those types of calls are the exception rather than the rule, I want to focus on the other types of calls that police receive.
Since 1995, Ottawa police has averaged approximately 365,000 calls for service a year. Almost 2,000 sworn officers and civilians are responsible for answering to those calls and ultimately the priority of those calls are determined by the impact they have on the safety, security and well being of the general public and the protection of their property.
The police service relies heavily on the public making them aware of what is going on in the community and one of the factors that limits our ability to do so is when members of the public call the wrong number, call at the wrong time, call about the non police related issues or do not call at all, when it is a police-related matter.
Bottom line is that we can serve the public a lot better when they are properly informed about how to best access our services. For example, a person who calls 911 when it is not an emergency ties up our 911 operator’s time when they could be attending to someone who is actually in a life threatening situation or is witnessing a crime in progress. This happens quite frequently and is a drain on resources because the 911 operator still has to send patrol officers to investigate the incident.
The appropriate number people should call for any emergency that is not life threatening or a crime in progress is 613-230-6211. By calling this number you will immediately access our communication centre and will speak directly to a clerk who will take down your information and disseminate it to a dispatcher. The dispatcher then creates a call for service and assigns patrol units to respond accordingly. These are typically accidents without injuries, suspicious activity or persons, crimes that have been committed, but are no longer in progress or traffic violations that are not criminal in nature, but require the attention of police (such as an aggressive or distracted driver, road rage, etc.)
If people need to simply report criminal activity, such as a theft or break and enter (where the suspect is no longer on scene), then a person should call our call center at 613-236-1222 ext. 7300. This will put you in touch with a clerk who will make a report of your complaint and give you an incident/case number for follow up purposes. You can also attend any of the Ottawa police stations and file a report in person. The information desks are located in the lobby of each station (474 Elgin St. info desk is open 24 hours a day) and there are officers assigned to these desks to receive your queries and take a report if necessary.
Beyond those numbers, there is many other ways to let us know what is going on. You can contact us through the Internet at www.ottawapolice.ca, you can send an e-mail to Chief Vern White, or anyone else in our service. One of the most effective ways to address local community issues, that are not an emergency, is to directly contact your local district police. For example, Centretown residents should call the general police number of 613-236-1222 ext. 5766 so that they can get in touch with the neighbourhood officers and beat officers who are assigned to the Centretown/Glebe/Old Ottawa South/Hintonburg area. They can also get in touch with their local community police officers at extension 5287 or 5871.
Also important to note is that calling in suspicious activity goes a long way in crime prevention and reduction, because criminals think twice about committing crimes when police intervene ahead of time. Once the crime is committed, the resources required to bring an individual to justice are enormous and this makes it becomes harder to invest those resources in crime prevention and effective community policing.
So, please take the time to educate yourself and others on how to best access the services in your community as this goes a long way in making these services work better for you in your own backyard.