Non-Emergency Assistance

Well, you learn something new every day. I guess I was unaware that there was a non-emergency number to call in place of 911.
There's 311 for stuff you might need to talk to local authorities about but may not be considered an "emergency" per se.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-1-1
Burning building? Call 9-1-1. Burning Question? Call 3-1-1.
Wikipedia has this to say:

3-1-1 service is generally implemented at the local level, and in some cities it is also used for various municipal calls.

Examples of calls intended for 3-1-1:

• illegal burning
• suspicious persons
• debris in roadway
• minor injuries
• non-working streetlamps & parking meters, etc.
• noise complaints
• local government inquiries

However it also says that it's not available in all areas and, according to this website at least, it's not available in the Seattle / King County area though further investigation might yield different results and/or other non-emergency numbers for your local area. Perhaps that's why I've never heard of it.