When a Mill Creek woman called 911 on New Year’s Day to report an illegally parked car, transferring her call should have been as simple as a click of a button.
Instead, the dispatcher told her to find a phone book. Look up the 10-digit number for SNOCOM, the dispatcher advised.
“We don’t dispatch for Mill Creek anymore,” the dispatcher tells the woman on a tape of the call.
The caller, clearly becoming confused, asked, “So 911 doesn’t work anymore?”
It does, assured Mill Creek Police Chief Bob Crannell. But the department’s switch in 911 providers from Everett-based SNOPAC to Mountlake Terrace-based SNOCOM hasn’t gone smoothly.
The department switched 911 providers Dec. 29, opting for the smaller SNOCOM, which also serves Lynnwood, Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, Brier and Woodway. The agency handled 92,000 calls in 2002.
All 911 calls from Mill Creek automatically go to SNOPAC because the agency still dispatches firefighters in the city. If the caller needs a Mill Creek police officer, the dispatcher transfers the call to SNOCOM.
During the first week of the changeover, “there may have been a little confusion,” said SNOPAC director Tom Howell, “but by and large it has gone very well.”
The dispatcher who told the Mill Creek caller to look up the number for SNOCOM was new, he said. She and other dispatchers now know to transfer all Mill Creek police calls.
Katherine Schiffner is a reporter for The Herald.
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