At the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting on Feb. 17 Greg Schmidt, director of the Seattle Police Department’s 911 Communication Department, spoke with community about when it’s appropriate to call 911 and how to respond to poor service from operators.

The strongest message of the night emphasized that when in doubt, residents should never hesitate to call the emergency line or check back if their emergency has not been addressed.

Schmidt noted that even for callers who do not speak English, translators in various languages are often connected very quickly.

Schmidt also explained that sometimes if operators seem unappreciative of the information provided by callers it could be because many callers are contacting the center with similar reports.

He added that, whenever possible, 911 operators will phone callers back if their needs are not met right away.

If a caller believes that an operator responded poorly to them then Schmidt said complaints should be directed to the mayor’s office or the City Service Bureau.

Schmidt added that it is best to call on a landline, which are most likely to provide 911 operators with a correct address for the caller. The location of cell phones can be tracked but it is less precise, Schmidt said.

The 911 Communication Department now has a full time analyst, Schmidt also reported, who collects information on 911 calls which can later be used to determine where police ought to patrol.

By the numbers:

The 911 center received approximately 846,000 calls last year.

Currently, the call center has 47 call takers working eight hour shifts .

About 40 percent of those were from land-line phones, about 60 percent from cellular phones and less than half a percent from internet phone service providers like Vonage.

The goal of 911 operators is to keep all calls between 60 and 90 seconds.

97 percent of all calls are answered within 2.5 seconds.

To report a complaint you can contact:

The mayor’s office can be contacted by calling (206) 684-4000 or mailing a written letter to Seattle City Hall 7th floor, 600 Fourth Avenue, P.O. Box 94749, Seattle, WA 98124-4749.

The City Service Bureau can be reached at (206) 684-2489.