3-1-1

For alternate uses, please see 311 (disambiguation).

In Canada and the United States, 3-1-1 is a special telephone number in many communities that provides a quick, easy to remember access to non-emergency municipal services.

3-1-1 is intended in part to divert routine inquiries and non-urgent community concerns from the emergency 9-1-1 number. A promotional website for 3-1-1 in Los Angeles described the distinction as follows: "Burning building? Call 9-1-1. Burning Question? Call 3-1-1."

Contents

1 History
2 Operation
3 Availability

3.1 United States
3.2 Canada

4 Usage
5 Steps to Implementation 311 Call Center Services
6 External links

History

Its first use for this purpose was in Baltimore, Maryland, where the service commenced on October 2, 1996. 3-1-1 is intended to connect callers to a call center that can be the same as the 9-1-1 call center, but with 3-1-1 calls assigned a secondary priority, answered only when no emergency 9-1-1 calls are waiting. This system is intended to extend the system such that true emergency callers are answered quickly, without ringing or busy signals.

The CRTC formally reserved the use of 3-1-1 for non-emergency municipal services throughout Canada on 5 November 2004. The first Canadian 3-1-1 service opened in Calgary, Alberta on 18 May 2005.

The 311 code was previously used by some telephone companies for testing purposes. In Alberta, 311 was the ANAC number until April 1 2005 when this was changed to 958-6111 to make way for the present 3-1-1 service.

In former times, "311" was sometimes used as a fictitious area code in Bell System advertisements depicting telephones; often the phone in the advertisement would bear the specific number "Area Code 311 555-2368."

Operation

3-1-1 service is generally implemented at the local level, and in some cities it is also used for various municipal calls.

Examples of calls intended for 3-1-1:

illegal burning
suspicious persons
debris in roadway
minor injuries
non-working streetlamps
noise complaints
local government enquiries

Availability

United States

3-1-1 is available in many, but not all, communities in America including Baltimore, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, San Jose and New York City.

Canada

The service is available in the following communities (with starting date):

Other Canadian municipalities are expected to implement 3-1-1 in the near future including Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Laval.

Usage

In the City of Baltimore, Md, 3-1-1 has been successful in dramatically reducing the cost of city services, but only in conjunction with that city's CitiStat service. Municipal officers of Baltimore do not recommend implementation of 3-1-1 services without first installing CitiStat. CitiStat is essential infrastructure to record and re-direct the service request information received through the 3-1-1 systems.

On December 20 2005, the first day of the 2005 New York City transit strike, 3-1-1 received over 240,000 phone calls, setting a new record for the city. (Mayor Bloomberg, Press Conference, 21 Dec 2005).

Steps to Implementation 311 Call Center Services

Set up an effective and complete City services web site.
Include access to other levels of government through this web site.
Use the web site to train call center staffers
Build call center facilities or Virtual Call Center
Implement and open 3-1-1 call center service.

The 3-1-1 call center services only supplement a general on-line accessibilty of local government, mainly to the decreasing portion of the population that does not have or cannot use the Web to access services. It is still, of course, a significant portion of the population.

There is still considerable discussion on whether 3-1-1 call center services should be implemented using a standard "bricks and mortar" call center building, or by using a virtual call center (VCC). A virtual call center involves using only a plain old telephone set (POTS) and an ordinary computer to provide the infrastructure needed for a call center worker to work from either home or any office.

External links

Canada
* [CRTC approval of 3-1-1 for Canada]
*[City of Calgary announcement of 3-1-1 introduction]
* [City of Gatineau, Quebec announcement of 3-1-1 introduction]
United States
* [NYC 3-1-1 services]
* [Los Angeles information on 3-1-1]
* National Institute of Justice. (2005). Calling 311: Guidelines for Policymakers. NCJ 206257. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/206257.htm
* National Institute of Justice. (2005). Managing Calls to the Police With 911/311 Systems. NCJ 206256. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/206256.htm

N11 codes
2-1-1 | 3-1-1 | 4-1-1 | 5-1-1 | 6-1-1 | 7-1-1 | 8-1-1 | 9-1-1

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