WHEREAS, In February 1997, the Federal Communications Commission reserved the telephone number 3-1-1 nationally for reporting non-emergency incidents to municipal communications centers in order to free up 9-1-1 call centers to properly handle true emergency calls that are a matter of life and death; and
WHEREAS, In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Mayors Emergency Safety and Security Summit, convened by the United States Conference of Mayors, has issued a call for all cities to implement 3-1-1 systems as part of its “National Plan for Safety and Security in America’s Cities”; and
WHEREAS, 3-1-1 allows citizens to call one easy-to-remember number to call for information or request a service from any government agency. Instead of leafing through the “Blue Pages” or navigating complex automated menus, citizens need only dial 3-1-1 to be promptly served or referred to the agency that can best serve their needs; and
WHEREAS, All calls to 3-1-1 are answered by a live operator, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and service requests made via 3-1-1 are electronically transferred to relevant agencies for direct service; and
WHEREAS, More than 25 jurisdictions across the country have or are in the process of implementing 3-1-1 systems, including New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore; and
WHEREAS, Since launching 3-1-1 in October 1996, Baltimore has reported a 67% reduction in 9-1-1 call answer time, a 69% reduction in abandoned 9-1-1 calls and an 82% reduction in the number of 9-1-1 calls answered by a recording; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Police Department receives an average of 3 million calls to 9-1-1 each year, which translates to an average of 8,000 calls a day. Nationally, it is estimated that 70 to 90% of those calls are not for true emergencies but are legitimate non-emergency calls that delay the delivery of emergency services to the 10 to 30% of callers who are experiencing true emergencies; and
WHEREAS, Establishing a 3-1-1 system will not only dramatically improve the Police Department’s 9-1-1 call center’s operations, but will also enable the City to do more with less. The Administration will, for the first time, have real-time data on requests or complaints regarding services, which will allow for better and immediate allocation of resources and personnel. In the long run, the data generated by 3-1-1 will improve the City’s ability to allocate resources and personnel across agencies; and
WHEREAS, 3-1-1 improves governmental efficiency by replacing processes performed on paper with computerization, by providing technology and training to many agencies, and by consolidating all call centers City-wide into one single call center; and
WHEREAS, Successful implementation of 3-1-1 systems for all City services, such as the Chicago and Dallas models, require extensive planning, including an across the board revision of business practices and development of a training academy for customer service agents, establishing a central call center, and installing a City-wide customer response system database; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Committees on Public Safety and Technology and Information Service are authorized to hold hearings to investigate the desirability and feasibility of implementing a 3-1-1 system to handle all non-emergency calls to City agencies.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Committees on Public Safety and Technology and Information Services are authorized to issue subpoenas as may be necessary to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents to the full extent authorized under Section 2-401 of the Home Rule Charter.
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