Kokua Line

By Gregg K. Kakesako

Saturday, June 29, 1996

Hildegaard Verploegen is on vacation

Non-emergency calls to police
also go to 911

QUESTION: I needed the help of the police department recently for what I considered a nonemergency response. I was having a dispute with my neighbor. The only number I knew to call was 911, but it was busy. Was I right in calling 911 for a nonemergency? Is there any other police number I could have used? I was calling on a weekend.

ANSWER: All calls for police, fire or ambulance service - emergency or nonemergency - are currently handled by 911, says Capt. Cary Tokunaga of the police Communications Division. There is no other number to call for such assistance. The system now handles about 80,000 calls a month and is able to handle the volume of requests.

Tokunaga recommends that if a caller seeking emergency help does run into a busy signal to hang up and call 911 again and as soon as an operator answers to state the emergency. He said that generally, persons seeking help can usually talk to an operator within 30 seconds after placing the call. There are about a half-dozen operators working each shift.


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