WHEN TO CALL
Examples of 9-1-1 emergencies include fire, crime in progress or just occurred, or medical crisis. A good rule of thumb is when life or property is threatened or at immediate risk or if there is a good chance that a criminal can be apprehended. If you are unsure how serious an incident is, do not hesitate to call 9-1-1. Assistance will be dispatched to the most critical calls first.
Call precedence from highest to lowest:
Threat to life
Threat to property/property damage
General Assistance
If you accidentally dial 9-1-1, do not hang up. Let the call taker know that you accidentally called. Otherwise, the call taker will attempt to call you back, and if unable to reach you, will trace the call (if necessary) and dispatch police to the location in an attempt to identify the emergency. This ensures that a caller who is incapacitated or unable to communicate with the call taker can receive help.
What is NOT an emergency:
Non-injury and non-blocking automobile accidents
Nuisance complaints (i.e. noise, parking, etc.)
Non-dangerous animal control issues
Information about or messages to other individuals or agencies
Our non-emergency / business telephone numbers ring in the dispatch center 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Find our non-emergency & business telephone numbers under Contact. If in doubt, call 9-1-1. Better safe than sorry.
Contact your local utility provider for questions relating to or to report power outages.
Please remember that by increasing the use of non-emergency numbers and restricting the use of 9-1-1 to emergencies only will help to ensure that 9-1-1 is readily available to all citizens during real emergency situations.
Additional Information
All personnel are trained to identify and answer TTY or TDD (Telephone Device for the Deaf) calls. Each call taking position is equipped to answer these types of calls. If you are a TDD user in our area, please contact I-COM so we can better assist you in the event of an emergency.
Teach your children the proper use of 9-1-1 early.
You do not need a coin to dial 9-1-1 from a pay phone.