See a non-emergency on the street?

It might not be the most urgent thing in the world – but it still feels off. 

Maybe it's a pile of illegally dumped trash, graffiti on the side of a wall or complaints about a rouge dog running amuck in a neighborhood. You don’t want to call 911, but somebody should do something, right?

Now, Doña Ana County residents can fill out reports of a non-emergency nature online. The Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority, which handles most 911 calls in Doña Ana County, announced the system's deployment earlier this month. 

Residents can go to MVRDA’s website and file a form detailing non-emergency incidents. The form requests users to provide their name, address and details of the event. According to MVRDA Executive Director Jennifer Gorham, the system provides an option for residents to report non-emergency incidents such as lost property, vandalism, minor theft, animal complaints and illegal dumping.  

“It's important that the community understands that this is another tool that they're going to have. Oftentimes, we (the community) get so busy, and we want to report something, and we get lost in the mix,” Gorham said. “This is something that, later on, they can go to their desktop, or they can use their phone to report instances as needed.”

For MVRDA, Gorham said the system would ideally divert non-emergency calls away from call takers, decreasing stress and workload for a critical cog in the public safety machine.

“I'm always here to commend our staff for the hard work that they do. And they work very long hours. So we're utilizing this as another tool to assist the community, but also assist our staff in managing the workload,” she said. 

MVRDA, mainly funded by the city of Las Cruces and Doña Ana County, has struggled with recruitment and retention in recent years. 

The stress of the job and a competitive market for call-takers led to high vacancy rates, which were exacerbated by pandemic-related economic consequences. Fewer call-takers means a heavier workload for those who remain. 

Records show that MVRDA has increased its pay for call-takers since then. However, factors outside the Authority’s control still challenge retention and recruitment efforts. 

Gorham said she hopes this system, for which MVRDA will pay about $5,000 monthly, will help. Indeed, there’s evidence that it could. 

The online reporting system is called Alastar and was created by Advanced Technology International, a South Carolina nonprofit and Department of Defense contractor. Other municipalities have reported that the system diverted 40 to 50 percent of non-emergency calls away from call takers. 

Gorham said getting to that point would be amazing, but it may take time to implement since most Las Crucens are likely unaware of the services.

“We understand it's going to be a ramp-up for success. And any amount of calls that we can get moved to the non-emergency online reporting is going to be a success in our books,” Gorham said.