Cop's Corner

by Constable Heather Brown

When to Call 911

The Vancouver Police Department will be directing the public to call 604-717-3321 for incidents that are not an emergency and which do not require immediate police intervention. The 9-1-1 line should only be used if lives are in danger, immediate action is required or there is a crime in progress.

According to Ecomm and the VPD: prior to the new change, the total number of 9-1-1 calls had grown from 2200 calls per day in 1990 to 3400 calls perday in 2005. Until now, non-emergency calls were being processed if citizens called 9-1-1, but in order to ensure there are no unnecessary delays in genuine emergency calls, this will no longer be the case. People are asked to call 9-1-1 if they need immediate response from police, fire or medical personnel, where lives are in danger, a crime is in progress or has just occurred.

If considerable time has passed since the incident or their call is of a nuisance nature, they should call 604-717-3321. This number is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and E-Comm is committed to answering 80% of the calls within three minutes.

To routinely contact a specific section of the police department or a specific officer, the public can call the switchboard at 604-717-3535

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