The meeting was called to order on May 12th, at 6:45, 9 people attending in person and 11 people by Zoom
Our speakers are Breanna Phelps, operations manager for the city’s 311 service center department, and Alex McDowell, an administrative analyst for the 311 service center department.
311 Calls for service
The service has three operations branches: the 311 call center, the in-person Downtown Service Center, and the East Lake Street Safety Center.
The 311 call center: your primary contact for the city and the primary contact for all non-emergency services, city services, and city information. 28 agents and 3 supervisors handle phone calls, emails, and voicemails.
Call us! at 311 or call 612-673-3000. Mon. through Fri., 7 a.m. to 7 p.m
After 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. CALL US and use voicemail, or,
Email us at minneapolis311@minneapolismn.gov or, use
Self-service online forms on the City Website [www.minneapolismn.gov/report-an-issue/].
311 app on iPhone and Android and you can send a photo! this is best for graffiti or vandalism.
Your email goes straight into our system and is handled by our regular agents.
Walk-in Centers
The Downtown Service Center at 505 4th Ave. South on the skyway level. Look for the big yellow desks. Five service center agents and a manager work the two big yellow counters. We’re open Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Fridays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This Downtown Service Center is a one-stop shop for many in-person city services, starting with 311/911 reports but also including building, plumbing, and mechanical permits, event and food permits, rental licenses. We have a police records window if you want a copy of an MPD report. You can also apply for a permit to purchase firearms, handle zoning and utility issues. We work with 12 different city depts. including Metro Transit, and can help you with over 250 city functions. We accept in-person payments for utilities, permits, and some license fees.
East Lake Safety Center. This is a new branch and right now it’s temporary — it has funding for two years. That Center has 2 agents and a manager. They offer information and connections to City partners including Crime Prevention Specialists, Community Navigators, the MPD. Community partners include the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches [https://gmcc.org/programs/] , LEAD [https://leadmpls.org/], the Lake Street Council [https://www.visitlakestreet.com/] and others. This Safety Center is at 2228 East Lake Street next to the Hiawatha Light Rail Station. Their hours are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesday, Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
What happens when you call 311.
When you call 311, an agent answers the phone as soon as possible, but if you can’t wait, send us an email.
First, the agent will ask how they can help. Be as specific and detailed as you can be. They may ask follow-up questions to make sure they understand. Then they will answer using scripting that helps resolve an issue or find information.
Agents work in nearly a dozen databases, but if our general protocol doesn’t resolve your issue, the 311 agents can send a service request directly to the appropriate dept. or to an external department partner, even to an external partner outside the city.
When a 311 agent processes a customer service request, they enter the customer’s contact info into the system, and then give the customer a case number and a due date. Then your service request can go in one of two routes: to an internal City department, or to an external partner.
For external partners, our system will send an email to the partner with all the provided service request information. For example, the Park Board doesn’t have a direct connection with our 311 online computer system. Instead, the service request info we enter in our system goes into an email which goes to the correct group in the Park Board. The case is closed in our system but all details are appropriately provided.
For our internal partners, a notification is sent that a case has been entered for them to review and handle. The department will review all the details provided and start working on the issue. They have a “Service Level Agreement” or SLA, that specifies how much time they have to investigate, forward, or resolve the issue, or to reconnect with the caller to get other info. This SLA is decided by the department based on how much time they need.
Typically, you’ll hear back in 5 to 10 business days but you will be provided with the exact SLA so you know what you expect.
Whether an issue can be resolved as requested or not, department staff should follow up to let you know what’s happening and why it may or may not be something that can be resolved.
If you ever want to check the status of the case or you realize you forgot some information or want to send in an update, you can always call 311 and we’ll give you a progress report and update the case as needed. You are always welcome to check in.
Working with 911
Non-emergency reports are divided into two groups: reports you can file online or by calling 311, and reports that must be filed by calling 311 (no online report option available).
Reports you can file online or by calling 311
Theft/Theft by swindle (except stolen auto)
Theft from motor vehicle (except stolen plates)
Credit or ATM card fraud
Damage to property
Damage to motor vehicle (unless it’s attempted auto theft)
Lost Property
Hit & run with no injuries
Trailer Theft
Trespassing, person no longer on scene
If you’re reporting something in this list, you can call 311 for assistance making a police report, and if needed, they can enter it for you. There is also an online form you can fill out on your own. You might use that if you don’t want to wait and lose the details of something that happened. If you prefer to call us, we’re happy to help you with it.
Reports you can file by calling 311 (no online report option available)
Identity theft
Deprivation of Parental Rights
Theft of services (taxi, innkeeper, etc.)
Restraining order violation
Harassment
Items on the second list do not have an online option so you must call 311 for that case to be entered. These are cases that the MPD has marked for direct reporting. They may have specific info or questions that they want to ensure will be gathered so those are the cases that do not have an online option.
Some phone calls may get forwarded to 911.
If your report is a designated emergency or requires a police officer response, we will transfer your call to 911 and they will provide the assistance you need. Neither 311 or 911 expects people to know the different report types or other details.
—————Pop Quiz and Miscellaneous—————-
McDowell: Next up, we have a pop quiz for folks to decide if you think each scenario should be a 911 call or 311 call to file the report type.
Q: Someone is walking down the street trying to open car door handles on multiple vehicles.
A: That would be a 911 call because it’s in progress. We need to get police there right away.
Q: You start your car in the morning and you hear very loud sounds from your car and learn someone cut off your catalytic converter.
A: This should be a 311 call just because it’s not happening right now, there’s no one on scene. You could also file this report online.
Q: Your vehicle is missing from where you parked it last night.
A: This one’s a little tricky; the answer is 911, even though no perpetrator is in sight. We need to make sure the vehicle has not turned up at the impound lot already or has already been reported stolen. If neither has already been entered, the Stolen Auto desk would start the stolen auto report process with you. You will get a police officer sent out to you to finish the report in person.
Q: You notice a rotten egg smell or sulfur smell outside of a building.
A: Call 911 for a potential gas leak. Funky sulfur smells are potential threats or immediate danger to the public.
Q: Your garden gnome has been smashed overnight by an unknown person.
A: That one is like the catalytic converter theft: you could call 311 or you could file a damage to property report online.
Q: You find a handgun in the alley behind your apartment building.
A: Anything with weapons, especially firearms, Call 911 — found firearm, stolen firearm, threats with the firearm, you think you saw someone with a firearm pointing it out of a vehicle that drove by you five minutes or 30 minutes ago, Call 911. Try to get a description of the car, where you saw it, where it was headed, a description of the occupants of the vehicle.
Q: Someone visits your store and leaves with an item they did not pay for.
A: You can call 311 or you can file a theft report online. As long as they’re not on scene or they left more than ten minutes ago, call 311 or file a theft report online.
Q: You notice unusual charges that you did not make while reviewing your credit card statement.
A: Call 311 or file a credit card fraud report online.
Q: Someone pretending to be a bank representative calls you and scams you out of money.
A: Call 311 or file a theft report online.
Phelps: A quick note about our Language Line.
We have a diverse community in the City of Minneapolis. The City contracts with a company that provides language translation and has something like 200+ languages they can provide interpreter services for. We can work with anybody who gives us a call or stops in the Service Center or the East Lake Safety Center, regardless of the language that they speak.
Finally, a quick synopsis of the 911 versus 311.
Call 911 for anything that requires emergency services OR when reporting an issue that requires police officers at the scene. If there’s a weapon involved in any way, it requires a police officer. If there was injury (assaults, burglaries, kidnapping, domestic disputes), call 911. Reporting a crime in progress is a 911 call and “in progress” means something that’s happened within the last 10 minutes. So if you see something happening right now, you’re able to call within a few minutes, call 911.They will get an officer out there as quickly as they can. They want that information ASAP.
If it’s outside that 10 minutes, try 911 depending on the situation. You can call 311 if it’s something like the shoplifting situation. Report in-progress criminal activity that you witness by calling 911. Call 911 if you need an ambulance, the Fire Dept., a behavioral crisis response team, or if you need an animal control officer to respond.
You can call 311 for all non-emergency services and reports, or for other city information. Here is a very broad list and it’s not complete: filing a police report, non-emergency animal control, sidewalks, streets, residential issues, city administration, permits, licensing, water, sewer. We run the gamut.
311 works with every city department. We work with external partners. So what I like to push is: if you’re not sure who to call and we’re open, call 311. Most people know the the big emergency stuff that needs a call to 911, but a lot of stuff is in a gray area as we just showed. If you’re not sure, we’re always happy to help.
If it’s a situation that needs to go to 911, 311 can transfer your call to 911.
Questions?
Question: I want to know if I am anonymous if I make a 311 call?
Answer: If you say, “I want to be anonymous,” we do not share data. In most reports, we have the option to just not enter your personal data.
Phelps :
There are some very specific cases that do need your information. Barking dogs for example, Animal Control needs to connect with you to find out when you are hearing this dog. If it’s “right now”, they will try to get out there and deal with the situation. There are a few residential complaints that can’t always be marked as anonymous.
We have time for one more question.
Comment: Two weeks ago, a new coffee shop opened and it kept going from 7 p.m. to past midnight.
Phelps: When the noise is happening right now, call 911. Even if 311 is open, we want to get an officer out there when it’s happening so that they can address the issue.
One more question: [Related a situation she observed in front of her building and wanted to know the official response] I was advised to call 311 to apply for a report.
Answer: This depends on how you’re connected to the issue. If you’re a bystander and you want to know what’s happening, you can file a data request either in person at the public service building or with 311. 311 will give you a request number for a data request, much like a service request number. The city will provide you whatever data they’re able to publicly provide related to that specific incident.
Remember: the City’s data response depends on your relationship to the scenario. It’s different if you’re involved. For example if you’re driving and someone hits your car, you were in a moving vehicle accident, so you can get a copy of the police report because you’re one of the two parties involved. If you’re walking your dog down the street, and you saw and heard an explosion and fire from a crash 2 blocks away, you’re not going to get much data.
Quast: I have a question about the 311 Incident Dashboard. In the first part of your presentation, you talked about specific service request volume, by ward for the city. So it’s broken down into the 12 wards, not by precincts. Can you pull out precinct-wide data?
Phelps: You can filter this data by ward or down to neighborhood. And it’s showing you the total number of those cases by ward or neighborhood, citywide. And you can get as granular as by year and by neighborhood, year, ward, or any combination of those. The categories are broken down on the right-hand side of the screen. This is updated every evening. You can filter data from 2020 to 2025.
Quast: Unless you narrow the request by neighborhood or year, the numbers are scary. I haven’t had much practice with it yet.
Phelps: Also, you’re seeing a wide variety of cases. Click into the neighborhood level and the numbers scale down. This dashboard is not specific to MPD incidents. If you look at “property and streets” you will see stats that include long grass and smashed windows in the same data pool.
Comment: I wonder if the 311 calls are not very populated in Dinkytown, but the 911 calls are. It makes me wonder if some of the 911 calls could have been addressed through 311 calls and maybe not escalated to the level of 911.
Answer: That’s a good point. We partner very closely with 911. And we are very good about staying within our lane. We want 911 to be available for emergencies, for those situations that really need 911, MPD, fire department, those kinds of things. So if someone calls 911 and it’s a situation that 311 can handle, 911 will let you know it’s a 311 issue. If 311 is open, 911 will transfer you over to 311, and vice versa. If you call 311 and it’s actually a 911 call, we might say “Hey, we’re glad you called, this is actually handled through 911” and then they will transfer you to 911 to connect with MPD or whatever the situation calls for. Or, if you call 911, and it’s a situation that’s meant to be handled by 311, they’ll let you know and transfer the call over to 311.
I promise you, they’re all very polite, going in both directions.There’s so much city information. You aren’t meant to know which number to call. Either side is happy to get you to the right place to get that good information.
Quast: Thank you very, very much. If anybody has any more questions about 311 please call 612-673-3000 or email them at Minneapolis311@minneapolismn.gov
2nd Precinct Advisory Council 