Overview of U.S. and Canadian 311 city and county service center has a mashup Googlemap of the 311 locations. 311 is the non-emergency phone number to call city or municipality fire or police departments. Some cities use this as an all-in-one access to the municipality. In Bethel, it connects police-fire-rescue squad-animal control. I don’t know if it also connects to Search and Rescue, but perhaps in an emergency it does (911). I don’t know how well the number works for dispatchers but it does well for citizens. Bethel is one of the few 311 jurisdictions and the smallest.
I have created a mash-up of the U.S. and Canadian 311 projects (last update: 9/26/07) which I would like to share with you. There are currently around 70 service centers (311) in the U.S.. Most of the 311 projects have been realized on the municipal level and in most of the U.S. biggest cities. While 11 countys have decided to offer 311, not all of them are multi-jurisdictional, that is information and services from the municipalities within a county are not integrated. Furthermore, 311 services can have various levels of sophistication and may either be operated by the police department or by newly generated 311 service units/departments.