We always encourage residents to call 911 to report any suspicious activity. but many people are afraid to call, associating 911 with "life and death" emergencies. Boston does things a little different. Read on to find out how Boston's 911 system works and how it can be our neighborhood's best friend.
First the numbers:
911 - Call this from your home/landline phone. This will connect you to police, who will be able to automatically see your home address as soon as you call.
617-3434-911 - To contact 911 from your cell phone. Put this number in your cell phone. Right now before your forget. I'll wait. OK - great. When you dial 911 from a cell phone you are sent to the State police, who will have to transfer you to Boston police. the 617-343-4911 number will get you directly to Boston Police. (smart phones are supposed to route 911 calls to the town from where you are calling, but that doesn't work most of the time.
How 911 works
In Boston, the 911 operator is the only way to get a police car dispatched. if you called the police department directly, you just get a desk office who can't dispatch a car. So while you still call 911 for the life-and-death stuff, you also call 911 for those loud parties, being blocked in by a double parker, or if you see some shady characters ducking into a dark alley.
Boston and BPD has set up 911 to work this way. Do not feel strange or embarrassed to call 911 for 'trivial' matters.
When you call 911 the dispatcher will answer "Is this an emergency". If it is not an emergency, then just answer "No". They'll then ask what the issue is and take your information. They will not yell at you for calling 911 if your call is about safety or any other neighborhood issue.
Why it's important
When people call 911 they picture a police car screaming down the street to answer your call. The truth is it could be a half hour before police show up, or they may not show up at all. (If it's a real emergency, everyone will show up - don't worry). What 911 does is prioritize calls. Emergencies get top priority. The loud party gets a lower priority. 911 takes all the calls, and dispatches police to the most important calls first. if it's a busy night (like the weekend) some of the low priority calls may never get an office responding.
But that doesn't mean your call has been ignored.
Every call is logged in and kept track of. They follow these calls over time to look for trends and hot spots. This data is looked over by local BPD chiefs, BOD overall, and City Hall. You think your one call about suspicious activity may not be worthy of a 911 call. But many calls about suspicious activity in the same area will start setting off flags in the BPD data, and let Police know something is up.
Many years ago the power went out in my apartment. After 20 minutes I finally called the electric company to ask when the power is coming back on. She said they didn't even know the power was out. Like me, everyone else just assumed 'someone else' called it in. Needless to say if power goes out I'm on the phone instantly to report it.
Crime is the same way. At a recent crime meeting someone said they see a lot of drug use in their neighborhood and why aren't he police doing anything about it? The police's answer? We have no reports on drug use in that area. And that's the issue. If no one calls, then they don't know what's going on, and can't do anything about it.
The bottom line?
If it doesn't look right? Call it in! Suspicious characters going into an alley? People drinking in the garden? Even if it's not your home. Walking to work and see a car window smashed? Call it in - it could be days before the owner sees it, and it could be the start of a crime wave. Complaining to your friends and neighbors is a nice way to vent, but unless you report it to 911, it's like it never happened.
So report, report, report. And if you didn't put the 617-3434-911 number in your cell phone earlier, do it now!
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