There is often confusion about when to call 911 and when to call 311 so we made an informational handout to help our residents with this issue. Â The .pdf version can be found here -Â When to call 911
When to call 911
Calling 911 is an important way to alert our officers that a crime is in progress or suspicious activity is being observed. By calling 911, you will be certain that your issue will be responded to immediately and treated with high priority, although the level of response will be dictated by APD’s judgement of severity.
DO NOT HESITATE to call 911 if you witness any of the following:
1. An actual crime being performed
- You see someone breaking into your home/auto or stealing your property
- You see someone suspicious attempting to gain access to a neighbor’s home/auto
- You see someone suspicious taking an item away from a neighbor’s home/auto
2. A suspicious activity that could possibly lead to a crime
- Your home is approached by someone unknown to you after normal hours
- You see someone looking over fences or into windows in your neighborhood
- You encounter a suspicious “salesman” or solicitor going door-to-door
- You witness a suspicious vehicle moving slowly through the neighborhood or down alleys
- You hear a strange noise at night that sounds like someone trying to gain access to your home/auto or a neighbor’s home/auto
When to call 311
Calling 311 should be done ONLY if the incident you are reporting happened several hours or days in the past. 311 is treated with much less priority by APD and you might not receive a response until several hours later. Â In still serves a very important purpose by providing the officers and detectives with a record of an incident that might contribute to the cases they are already working.
Use 311 to report the following:
- You find your home/auto has been broken into over-night or after returning from a trip
- Your home/auto was broken into at some point in the past but you never reported it
- An event reminds you of a suspicious incident you witnessed recently but did not report
