People who want to contact the Washington State Patrol for nonemergency information or administrative matters can call 360-260-6333.
As a Washington State Patrol dispatcher, Carri Gordon has taken 911 calls from people looking for a measles vaccination.
… And people whose cable TV just went out.
… And people needing to renew their driver’s license.
Not really emergencies, most people would agree.
However, “There are two sides to this,” said Trooper Steve Schatzel. He has investigated incidents in which people didn’t call 911 quickly enough, including victims of hit-and-run drivers.
As one of the agencies that recently observed National Telecommunicators Week, WSP officials stressed this message: Know when it’s the right time to call 911.
WSP is especially concerned about the number of people who call 911 to get road conditions or driving directions, Mark Layhew, director of WSP’s Communications Division, said in a news release.
In a phone interview, Gordon offered her own examples of people looking for a measles shot or whose power went out.
“Those were calls I personally have taken in the past,” said Gordon, training program manager in the WSP’s communications division. “It’s not what you call 911 for.”
“If you need a police officer, firefighter or emergency medical help at your location, you should be calling 911,” Layhew said. “Beyond that, the list of reasons to call is pretty short.”
But Layhew stressed another “Please call” category, and it’s also an exception to the state’s ban on drivers using cell phones: The State Patrol wants calls from motorists who are currently watching impaired drivers. It’s legal to use your cell phone to call 911 with that information.
Motorists also can call 911 with crime-solving tips, including “Amber Alert” information.
Some people who should dial 911 are reluctant to make the call, said Schatzel, public information officer for District 5, based in Vancouver.
“They don’t think it’s important enough,” Schatzel said. Or, maybe someone involved in a highway incident wants to get safely home before notifying authorities.
If people threatened by an aggressive driver don’t call until they get home, troopers might not have a lot to work with.
“They say it happened 15 or 20 minutes ago. At a mile a minute, that person will be 20 miles away if you wait to make the call,” said Schatzel.
District 5 covers a good-sized swath of Southwest Washington, with 70 commissioned troopers who work north along the Interstate 5 corridor through Clark, Cowlitz and Lewis counties, and east through Skamania and Klickitat counties.
If their car is still drivable, some motorists sideswiped or rear-ended by a hit-and-run driver will go home before calling police.
“It can be a traumatic experience for people,” Schatzel said. As a first responder, “I go to a collision every day, but it can be life-changing for people.”
If the damaged car is sitting in the owner’s driveway, “We’ll check it out right there,” he said. “But it can be hard to verify the story.”
The victim can tell troopers the incident happened on I-5, but it isn’t always easy to go back and find the location.
Investigators can have much better luck when the victim is parked on the shoulder of the highway and troopers can check out the accident site.
“You can see the debris field,” Schatzel said.
The best example of that, Schatzel said, was when a motorist was rear-ended on a highway. It was pretty easy to find the offending driver.
“They left their front bumper behind,” he said, “including the front license plate.”
Tom Vogt: 360-735-4558 or tom.vogt@columbian.com.
