New Law In Austin, TX Requires That You Not Call 911 For These Offenses

Wow when I heard about this, I thought yeah right...until I looked it up for myself and found it to be true! Have you heard about the new law in Austin and how you should not call police for just anything? You are advised to call 311 instead of 911 for what is deemed a 'non-emergency.' Let me explain.

According to KXAN.com:

The Austin Police Department is making a change to the way it responds to crimes. Starting Friday, Oct. 1, APD wants people to use iReportAustin.com or call 311, not 911, to report crimes that are no longer in progress, when the suspect or people involved are no longer on the scene and when there is no further immediate threat to life or property.

What the heck does this mean? They cannot call 911? Not exactly. Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon clarifies what constitutes a non-emergency. Attempted theft of property, verbal disturbances, suspicious person or vehicle, crashes between vehicles that don’t require a tow, there are no injuries, both drivers have proof of insurance and a driver’s license and neither driver is impaired as a slew of other offenses. 

Yikes. This scares me. Chief Chacon claims that 'instead of a patrol officer stopping by, you will now be visited by a crime technician and that the police force simply does not have the manpower to respond to every call.'

So far this has only been implemented in Austin, TX. I don't know if I would like this to be the case in our area. How would you feel if this law came to Midland/Odessa?

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